Mistakes
by Sakura Bloom
Summary: The Digidestined are to go back to the real world after defeating the Dark Masters... But what if a mistake occured in the process? A fic about the chain reactions of mistakes and what they do to the people that make them.
1. The Mistake...

"Mistakes"

**Mistakes**  
_by Laura Kamida_  
**Rated PG-13 for Violence and Language**  
  


**Chapter 1 - The Mistake...**   
  
All their hearts raced. This was it. The end of it all. The Dark Masters of the digital world had been destroyed. The eight Digidestined had finally been released and they were being sent back to their homes in Odaiba. Izzy had created a portal that would take them back to the real world.  
  
"We can't go with you this time," Biyomon said softly. "You'll be gone for good, and we --" she choked up a little bit, "we have to stay here and guard this world forever..."  
  
"Oh, Bi, I'll miss you so much," Sora said, wiping back tears. She hugged her small friend tightly.  
  
Agumon tried to stand tall and brave, but Tai spied a little tear accumulating in the corner of his eye. "Hey, buddy," he said very quietly. "Everything's gonna be OK." Tai patted him on the back gently.  
  
"Matt, I will miss your company," Gabumon said.  
  
Matt could not speak. His eyebrows were furrowed, his jaw firmly set. "Goodbye, Gabumon," he finally said.  
  
"Oh, Palmon! I don't want to go! But I do want to get home to my nice comfy bed and my nice comfy shopping mall and... OH!" Mimi started to sob.  
  
Palmon delicately wrapped her vines around Mimi. "It's OK, Mimi..."  
  
"You'll email me, right Izzy?" Tentomon inquired.  
  
Izzy smiled weakly. "You bet."  
  
"Aw, Joe," Gomamon said. "Don't be sad. The upside is, ya met me. Don't be sad that you're leaving!"  
  
"You're right, Gomamon," Joe said. They both laughed a little. "Goodbye, Gomamon."  
  
"Oh, Gatomon... We had fun, didn't we?"  
  
"Uh-huh..." Gatomon replied quietly. "You showed me what I could really be, and I'll always thank you for that..." The small cat Digimon jumped into Kari's arms and they hugged each other.  
  
"Aw, TK..."  
  
"Aw, Patamon..."  
  
The two hugged each other fiercely, Patamon burying his head in TK's shoulder. "I'll miss you, TK. I love you!"  
  
"Aw, I love you too, Patamon! I'll never forget you. Not in a million bazillion years!"  
  
"All right, guys, let's go... Home! Here we come!" Tai shouted in triumph. They all clasped hands and prepared to leap into the portal that they had created. Home was just a jump away.  
  
Tai grabbed Sora's hand.  
  
Sora grabbed Mimi's hand.  
  
Mimi grabbed Izzy's hand.  
  
Izzy grabbed Joe's hand.  
  
Joe grabbed Matt's hand.  
  
Matt grabbed TK's hand.  
  
TK grabbed Kari's hand.  
  
Kari grabbed Tai's hand.  
  
"One, two, three... JUMP!!!"  
  
Izzy's mind raced with the speed of a computer. Digital portal... program... did he make the right connection... would the portal take them home or would it delete their data... how could he be sure... he made the wrong...  
  
"No, WAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIT!" Izzy screamed, realizing the mistake he had made, but it was too late. The eight digidestined were going through the portal.  
  
Izzy's scream echoed across the digital world as he was thrown back into the real world.  
  
~*~  
  
Izzy woke up some time later in his bed with a sharp gasp. He bolted straight up in his bed. What had he done? He jumped out of bed and ran into the kitchen.  
  
"Hi Mom," he said hurriedly, picking up the phone and desperately dialing the Kamiya number. "Is Tai there?"  
  
"No, I'm sorry," Mrs. Kamiya replied. "He left three days ago. I'm not sure when he'll be back..." she said softly.  
  
Tai wasn't home... so his suspicions were correct. Tai and the others were still in the digital world. How had he gotten home...? Three days ago!? They had been in the digital world _far_ longer than three days...  
  
"...Hello?"  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry, Mrs. Kamiya," Izzy said quickly.  
  
"I said, can I take a message?"  
  
"Umm..." Izzy stammered. He couldn't say his name, because then Mrs. Kamiya would worry about Tai... at least now she thought that they were all together and that they would be back soon. If she found out that one of them was home... all of the parents would worry about their children. "No message. I'll call him back later."  
  
"OK, bye-."  
  
Click. Izzy hung up the phone. He shuffled across the kitchen and flopped down into his chair at the table. It was all his fault that they were all trapped there. He let his head fall to the table and his forehead landed on the hard wood. "Mom," he said. "Please don't tell anyone that I'm home." It was summer, so he didn't have to go to school, if he didn't want to leave the house, he didn't have to. "I have to get back to the digital world to get all of my friends back."  
  
His mother stared at him. "But Izzy, you just came back! I won't allow you to leave again."  
  
"Mom, I have to go back. It's all my fault that the others are still there. It was my mistake and I will fix it. I have to go back... I just don't know how..." He stared at his mother with determination. Her face was stern, but her expression softened.  
  
"All right," she said. "For the other children, and their parents... Oh, my, how I would feel if one of the other children had a way to save you and their mother wouldn't let them go..."  
  
"Thanks, Mom," Izzy said with a slight nod of his head. He trudged off to go to his computer. He was still depressed. He was _supposed_ to be some kind of computer genius... but he had gotten his friends stuck in this mess... who knows where they were? He had been lucky enough to get home... what if they had gotten... **gulp** dele --  
  
_No,_ Izzy thought to himself. _Don't think that way. Thinking that way will only hinder you. Try to be an optimist for once. Think of the good things. Think of what will happen when you free them. Tai, and Matt, and Sora, and Joe, and TK, and Kari...  
  
And Mimi._ "Gennai..." Izzy said to himself, turning on his computer. Gennai had access to his email address, he had to have e-mailed him a way to get back to the digital world. He continually chastised himself for letting himself get into this situation. _Connect to the internet... I need a faster modem. Come on... hurry up. Email... NO NEW EMAIL!!!_  
  
Izzy stood up like a flash, his chair tipping over and falling behind him. "No!" he yelled, fuming.  
  
The digivice. That was his way back to the digital world. That was the way that he could make it back to save his friends. That was the way. He examined the small square to see if there was any port on it that would make it capable for him to plug it into the computer. None. Well, there was that one that plugged into his laptop... but that was only a Digimon Analyzer. Izzy had long before tried to see if he could find anything out about the digivice or the Digiworld itself from that port... nothing had worked.  
  
"Gennai!" Izzy yelled.  
  
Izzy propped his chair back up and flopped down in it, feeling utterly defeated. For one of the only times in his life, he had no idea what to do.  
  
_~~THREE WEEKS LATER~~_  
  
"Digivice, please take me back to the digital world. Please!" Over the past three weeks, Izzy had tried every possible method he could think of to get back to his friends. Now he was just pleading, blinking back tears of stress, fatigue, and despair.  
  
"Izzy..." The digivice spoke, pulsating with light on every spoken syllable. The voice -- so familiar, so hauntingly familiar. It was the voice that had spoken to them through in the forest when they were trying to defeat the Dark Masters, when Tai and Matt clashed. The voice that had showed them the past. Izzy knew in his heart that this was that same voice. "You must find the way back to our world in your own heart, your own soul. No one can help you. Not the digidestined, not Tentomon, not Gennai, and not us... you must find it within the fibers that make up your very being."  
  
"I don't understand --"  
  
"Koushiro."  
  
Izzy fell silent.  
  
"Find it in yourself. Only you know the way back. The only way to find within yourself it is to look." The digivice ceased to pulsate and it fell back to its own color.  
  
"Find it in myself..." he murmured. "Find it in myself. The only way I've ever been able to do anything is by investigation... but this command -- it's too vague, it's too..." he drifted off. Looking down at the digivice, he took a deep breath.  
  
"I have to get back. We're a team. It was my fault that they're gone, and it's my responsibility to get them home... and... I love them all. They are all my friends. _I don't know what I would do without them..._ -- " The digivice began to glow, a brilliant white, filling the whole room with an intensity that Izzy didn't want to sheild himself against. His eyes widened. Was this it? Was he going to make it back? "Yes!" he cried out loud. "Yes! I'm going to make it back!"  
  
But he still wasn't sure why.  
  
There was a sudden, overwhelmingly bright flash of all the colors in the spectrum, and Izzy disappeared from his bedroom.  
  
Mrs. Izumi ran into the room. "Izzy!?" she cried. "I guess... -- I guess he made it."  
  
~*~  
  
A 19-year-old girl with long, auburn hair bolted straight up in the bed. She stared out the window and watched as a sparkling, beautiful shooting star fell to the ground with every color she knew... and every color she didn't... sparkling in it's trail.  
  
She smiled, her hazel eyes closing as she lay back down. She put her arms around the shoulders of the man she loved. It was a good omen. Her mind sifted through the clouds of her semi-conscious and her mind sparkled with one last thought before she drifted back into slumber.  
  
_This means that it will live..._  
  
~*~  
  
Another girl stared out of her chamber's window. Her eyes, dull, cold, and flat, stared straight ahead frigidly, expressionlessly.  
  
Suddenly, the shooting star came into her vision. Her brown eyes glowed, a light, a warmth, a love coming from her face. She smiled, inhaling the night air. Tears came to her eyes and she held her hands forward. "You've come... for me," she whispered.  
  
Just as suddenly as it -- this warmth, this love that she felt so strangely for this shooting star -- had appeared, the star dissipated as it fell to the ground. The warmth disappeared, the golden brown eyes drifted back to their previous state, and the girl turned away from the darkness of the night. The prophecy. The warning. It would all come true.  
  
_This means that I will die..._  
  
_~~THE NEXT DAY~~_  
  
Izzy had walked through the forest all day. He hadn't eaten since the previous morning and was ready to collapse. He saw the outskirts of the forest.  
  
He stumbled out of the forest. He, in exhaustion, fell to the feet of a bare-chested boy who looked to be about 14. Izzy's eyes moved up from the cutoff jeans to see his face. His eyes were stunning blue, with a profound merriment in them. His wild blonde hair spiked out everywhere. His face was cheerful, with a wide grin.  
  
"Izzy! It's great to see you again!" he laughed.  
  
"Matt? Could that be you?" It seemed to be Matt, but he was burtsting at the seams with cheerful energy. Matt was always calm and moody.  
  
"No!" he chuckled. "I wish! It's just me, Takeru," the boy said, smiling.  
  
"TK!? But -- but, I'm older than you!" Izzy sputtered, stunned.  
  
Takeru stared at him. "You were gone for a long time, Izzy," he replied, seeming to be a little sad. "...Everyone thought you had died." His face shined weakly, pride intermixing with the sad memories. "But I _knew_ you made it home. And it was you who said that time passed by a lot faster here. We've been here for over six years... and you were only gone for... how long?"  
  
"Only three weeks!"  
  
"But, without you, no one had any idea how to get home... and no one knew exactly what to do... Matt and Tai fought a lot about what to do with everyone..."  
  
"Just like always," Izzy added.  
  
"Just like always."  
  
They both gave a weak laugh. Forced. It had been so long, and yet, it had not been a long time at all. But still, they hardly knew each other anymore.  
  
"Come back to town with me," Takeru said finally.  
  
"Town?"  
  
He paused. Apparently this was a sore subject. "We got used to the fact that we would be here forever... So we built houses for ourselves and made a town. We called it Odaiba."  
  
"Odaiba..." Izzy repeated softly. Where he had been while his friends had passed him by. He nodded, saying, "Let's go, TK. Lead the way." Takeru took off.  
  
"And it's Takeru," he said, resurrecting the grin that Izzy had first seen.  
  
Takeru was quick on his feet, had strong young muscles which carried him with agility. Izzy did the math in his mind as they walked through the field. If six years had passed by in this world, Takeru was in fact 14, and so was Kari. Sora, Tai, and Matt were 19, Mimi was 18, and Joe was 20. And he would have been 17.  
  
"Prodigious!" Izzy said upon seeing the dwellings which they had made.  
  
"Hey everyone!" Takeru yelled. "You'll never guess who I found!"  
  
Izzy called out to all the people he saw outside. "Tai! Sora! Matt! Joe! Kari!" He ran to them. Everyone turned. Jaws dropped and Izzy heard gasps.  
  
"Izzy! You're alive!" Tai cried. Much of the same came from everyone else. Hugs and kisses attacked him. He looked at everyone. Everyone had changed so much!  
  
_Taichi Kamiya... Tai._ His hair was still as crazy as it ever was, big brown spikes jutting out making his coif even bigger than his head. He had lost the trademark goggles, though... probably grown out of them, or they had broken. His brown eyes were still wide with curiosity. He had grown much taller (though Matt was taller still, Izzy noted), and more muscular... probably from all the work that they had to do building the town and keeping themselves alive.  
  
_Yamato Ishida.... Matt._ His blonde hair was still wild, although a bit toned down. Still gelled to a perfect style. Still untouchable, most likely. His eyes, still that piercing blue, still holding that melancholy quality to them, lit up slightly now that Izzy had returned. He smiled, but Izzy could still see some nagging conflict within that caused him anguish. Izzy wondered if it was still TK -- Takeru. Doubtful. Takeru had grown well -- Matt had done his job. They thought that they were never going to get home -- he probably didn't think about his parents and what would happen to him and T -- Takeru being split up. Izzy tried to get himself to remember to call him Takeru.  
  
_Jyou Kido... Joe._ He was probably the most improved of the group. He had gotten taller -- he was the tallest of the group in fact, and more muscular than he had been before. Still didn't compare to Matt or Tai, but Joe had certainly gotten handsome. _And probably gotten Mimi..._ Izzy thought to himself. He had acquired a certain ruggedness he had never had before... they all seemed to have gained this quality.  
  
_Hikari Kamiya... Kari._ She had let her light brown hair grow out... It was in a high ponytail on her head. Izzy couldn't help his thoughts going back to Mimi. _She even looks a little like Mimi now..._ But she was different too... there was some quality about her that Mimi would never have, not even living out on the land like they had been. Mimi Tachikawa would always be... not snobbish... just... proper. Izzy nodded mentally. Proper.  
  
_Finally, Sora Takenouchi._ She was ravishing. Beautiful. Her long, reddish brown hair and the loss of her helmet made her look much more mature than her cropped off look had. Her hazel eyes sparked as she smiled. Izzy could feel love and warmth coming from her face; so glad to see that her friend was alive... that was her way... She had her arm around Tai's waist. Izzy wasn't surprised... He had always seen that coming. She was as slim and slender as before... except...  
  
"Sora?" Izzy questioned, stepping back. He looked at her bulging stomach.  
  
Sora blushed and Tai gently put his arms around her shoulders. Izzy grinned knowingly. Digital Procreation. What a concept.  
  
He looked around. "Where's Mimi?" he asked.  
  
Everyone averted their eyes, and faces dropped, as if they were ashamed of something. "Iz..." Tai said softly. "She's gone."  
  
"_What_!?" he exclaimed. He added, much more softly, "She's... dead...?"  
  
Sora wiped a tear from her eye and inhaled deeply. "Come with me, Izzy," she said, taking his hand. Izzy looked down at their linked hands... Hers was so much bigger than his now... He looked back up at her, but she was looking ahead. She led him to a small part of the forest which bordered the small town from the south. There was a small place cleared out where the sun filtered through the foliage, exposing three crosses in the ground.  
  
Izzy read the names softly to himself, "Izzy... Mimi... Izzy... Two for me?"  
  
"No," Sora replied. "This one was for you, and this one is for..." she stopped. "I'm sorry," she said, choking up from tears. Izzy made a small gesture by shaking his head telling her it was all right. She knelt down beside the cross and put her hands on it, gently caressing it as if it were a person. "That one is for Isabelle, my baby girl..." She drifted off, and a slow, soft sob came from her.  
  
"I'm sorry," Izzy said softly, taking a place beside her.  
  
"She was a beautiful baby girl... eyes and hair just like Tai... when she came a month and a half early... no one really expected her to live. Joe said when he examined her there was always a possibility..." she drifted off, wetting her lips and swallowing. "I knew the chances for her were slim, but I loved her anyway... she was so small when I held her in my arms... and... I hoped _beyond_ hope, beyond all reason, that she would make it... but Mimi came in one morning and broke the news to me: that she died while I was sleeping..." She bit her lip and tried to hold back the tears that wouldn't be held.  
  
Izzy heard rustling behind them. Tai rushed toward them and knelt down to Sora's side. Sora fell into his embrace and he lovingly stroked her hair. Izzy heard her muffled sobs against her lover's chest. Tai was looking into Izzy's eyes. There was sorrow, a deep regret and pain within the wide brown eyes. It was all Izzy could do to keep his own tears inside. He felt sorry for Sora and Tai, of course... but also... there was another nagging feeling in his chest... he could even put a name on it:  
  
_Mimi._  
  
He knew this wasn't the time, not now, when Tai and Sora were so distraught over the memories of their lost child... but he had to find out everything -- how did she die? How old was she? Why couldn't they save her? What would he tell the Tachikawas? How would he deal with it himself...? He tried to push the thoughts of his own feelings for Mimi out of his mind. He should think about this methodically... How would they deal with this situation when they got home? That was the first question. Next, he would have to investigate her death. How old was she, how did she die, et cetera, et cetera... everything orderly, everything perfect...  
  
Except that love wasn't so systematic.  
  
"I'll leave you two alone..." Izzy murmured, fidgeting uncomfortably. Tai slowly nodded in agreement and gratitude. Izzy walked out of the small grove in the forest and slowly back to Odaiba.  
  
"You must be starving," Kari said. "Come with me." She led the way for him to come in a larger hut in the middle of the town. Izzy glanced around and saw Takeru running to catch up with the two of them. Izzy grinned at him. Takeru pretended like he didn't know what he was grinning about and shrugged. But Izzy could see redness creeping up his face.  
  
"This is where we all come to eat," Kari explained. "We thought it would be more practical for one of us to cook for everyone else... plus none of the guys can cook worth a Numemon sludge..." Izzy smiled a little. "Sora usually cooks, but I'm trying to learn the culinary art myself. I'll never be as good as she is." Kari giggled a little.  
  
"Do you need help in the kitchen, Kari?" Takeru asked.  
  
"Nah," Kari said. "But thanks for asking!" She darted off into the other segment of the building.  
  
Takeru watched her walk away, and slowly turned his head to see Izzy staring him right in the face.  
  
His face turned red as a beet. "Uh... I'm going to go outside and pick some Digifruit. Yeah -- that's it." He darted off and Izzy chuckled to himself.  
  
~*~  
  
"Bedtime, children," Sora said sternly, with a hint of sweetness still lingering in her voice.  
  
Takeru and Kari halted in their tracks. "Children?" Kari echoed. "We're only six years younger than you, Sora. And your not my mother. You're just my brother's girlfriend!"  
  
The remark seemed to sting Sora. She was always the matriarch of the group... but that wasn't it. She was pregnant with Tai's second child and she was only his "girlfriend." Sure, there was no way to make it legal here in the Digiworld... but she still wondered what her mother would say if she knew.  
  
"You might have to worry about that soon," Matt said quietly. Sora jumped. She had not heard him coming and wondered how he knew what she was thinking.  
  
"Matt? How did -- I mean, worry about what?"  
  
"Izzy will be taking us back to Japan any time now... And you're wondering what your mother will think of you. But... even though you have lived here for a long time, you were raised right, and with moral standards. If you were at home, you know you and Tai would have been married before Isabelle was even a twinkle in your eye."  
  
"_Isabelle_," she whispered.  
  
"I'm sorry, I -- I didn't mean to bring up a sore subject..."  
  
"No no, you're right about what you said. You made me feel a lot better." She looked for a short moment into his eyes. But he wasn't convinced. She spun around and walked toward the two fourteen-year-olds again. "Shoo, you two. You had better get in your rooms right now!"  
  
Takeru reluctantly walked to the hut that he shared with Matt, and Kari to the one that she used to share with Mimi. Sora smiled a little and began to walk to the house where Tai was already getting ready for bed.  
  
"Good night, Sora," Matt called, walking to his dwelling, hands shoved deep in his pockets.  
  
She turned, her hair making a graceful landing along her shoulders. She smiled, her eyes twinkling. "Good night, Matt," she replied.  
  
~*~  
  
"You can sleep in the floor in here if you want to. I stay here alone. No one wants me," the tall man joked, chuckling. "Or you can go in the dining room. There's a fireplace in there... but that place is too big. It always gives me the creeps." Joe flicked a lit match into the fireplace of his home.  
  
"I guess I'll sleep in the floor here. I want to ask you about... what's been happening here," Izzy replied, curiosity almost overtaking him.  
  
Joe took off his glasses and placed them on the stand by his bed.  
  
"What does everyone do during the day? Where are the Digimon? What made you decide to build the town here? What do you do for food? Why --"  
  
"Hold on!" Joe chuckled, cutting him off. "I can't answer that many questions at the same time! As far as what we do during the day, that relates to the food issue. We farm and harvest different foods that we have found native to the digital world. Most of them are very similar to the foods we eat at home." Izzy noted to himself that he still called the real world home after six years. "And we catch fish in the pond that is up to the northwest. When we're not working, we all have our little hobbies we like to do. I like to go out into the woods to search for different plants and herbs that I can find. You see, I finally became a doctor. Whenever someone gets sick in Odaiba, I help them. You could say that I'm the best doctor in town..." he laughed. He had certainly gained a sense of humor out here and lost all his fears and insecurities.  
  
"What does everyone else do?"  
  
"Well... Sora and Matt like to stick around town most of the time. Sora makes all the clothes for everyone and cooks for everyone... she's like the mother-type for the town... and Matt likes to stick around and keep a watch and protection. Tai likes to explore. Sora gets worried about him, but he does all right. He's gotten very far before, but he always comes back -- every night before dinner. Takeru and Kari always have to stick together, according to Sora's rule. But the two of them go off together a lot too."  
  
"As far as building the town here," he continued, not noticing the grin on Izzy's face, "we just picked the place we were when the idea hatched. We had been traveling for so long, that everyone (well, mainly Mimi) decided that we just had to stop and build the town."  
  
"...And the digimon?"  
  
"They're around. They were chosen to be the Guardians of the digital world, and aren't always here in town. Also, they like to help around the town when they get the chance. The sad thing is... except for Takeru and Kari, we're all adults, and although we all love our Digimon friends dearly... we've all matured. They," he said, gesturing to the direction of all the other huts, "don't realize it yet, but we see them all as pets, really. Talking pets."  
  
Izzy thought about it for a moment. "That does make sense... I couldn't see any adult treating the little creatures like we do."  
  
"Well, I've answered all your questions," Joe said.  
  
"Not exactly all of them..." Izzy began.  
  
"You want to know about Mimi," Joe said flatly.  
  
"Well," Izzy admitted. "Yes, I want to know how she died."  
  
Joe stared at the ground, looking like he was staring into far off space. "We... killed her."  
  
"What!? Why!?" Izzy demanded.  
  
Joe held his hands up in defense. "Hold on, before you go crazy. We didn't want to do it. We didn't even do it on purpose. I know that you liked her a lot, Izzy, but it couldn't be helped..." he drifted off. "She went crazy, Izzy. She started doing horrible things. It was small at first. She started fights. She 'misunderstood' things. But it got serious. She almost killed Palmon. She swore it was an accident... and some of us believed her. Mainly me. Because... because I love -- d... her."  
  
"Were you two... together? Like Tai and Sora?"  
  
"At times... mainly we were just kindred spirits. Soulmates. You wouldn't think it... but she did soften a little out here. Her roughness was soothed slightly. Maybe she was just growing up... but she stopped acting like a princess and therein became _my_ princess... There were times when we would just sit, look at the stars, hold hands, and talk...But there were times when... Uh... nevermind..."  
  
Izzy was only mildly surprised. He had figured, with Sora and Tai together, that Mimi had run to Joe.  
  
"...Sora believed her too. That's just Sora's way. But the Kamiyas never trusted her when this whole thing started to blow up... Kari is like the clairvoyant, our "psychic" of the society. She somehow knew something was amiss... She warned us with her dreams and her visions... and you know how Tai is. He is trusting to a point, but enough was enough."  
  
Izzy slowly nodded.  
  
"And finally, enough was enough for everyone. It was the straw that broke the camel's back... Sora was in the kitchen, and Mimi was helping her clean up after dinner. Everyone had gone back to their respective huts, and suddenly we heard Kari scream. We all (or so we thought) ran to her hut and she explained to us a dream where one woman attacked another in one of our huts and it burst into flames. Suddenly we heard another scream and the dining house went up in flames..."  
  
"We ran out of Kari's hut and Mimi had just emerged from the dining house. She ran to my arms, and cried that Sora was still in there... and I believed she was sincere in her worry for Sora. Tai and Matt both bolted into the hut and pulled Sora out. While they were in there, Mimi told us that something had caught on fire and she grabbed Sora's hand to run out, but a ring that Tai had made for Sora was in there somewhere and they couldn't find it. Finally they agreed that they _both_ had to get out of there, but Sora stayed behind to keep looking without Mimi knowing. I believed her, but Kari stood there with a cold look of contempt on her face. Finally, Matt ran out and Tai came out behind him carrying Sora's unconscious body. She had her ring on... We all thought it was a little funny how she had found her ring and then collapsed, not even having a chance to run out. But when she was in here, and I was healing her, I noticed the mark... of blunt force -- on the back of her head."  
  
Izzy winced.  
  
"Even I couldn't believe her anymore... I wanted to, God help me I wanted to. I loved her so much... I couldn't bear to think that she had gone off the deep end. But Tai wanted her gone. So we banished her from the community. But she wouldn't leave. That's when we really knew that something wasn't right in her head. She went psycho, and tried to attack Sora. But Garudamon showed up just in time and blocked Mimi's attack..."  
  
"By killing her," Izzy said softly.  
  
"Izzy, I wish there had been a different way to do it, but there wasn't. I'm just disappointed that the way I remember Mimi, and will always remember Mimi, is with that cold look in her eyes. It looked... purely evil. And it scared me. It really did."  
  
"That's enough," he said softly. "I don't need to hear anymore..."  
  
"All right," Joe said. "You get some sleep." He sat on his bed and pulled the covers up over his head. "Good night, Izzy."  
  
"Good night, Joe..." Izzy said softly, pulling the blanket up over himself.  
  
~*~  
  
Kari slipped off into a deep sleep. She was haunted by images. A strong woman who's face she couldn't see, holding down a man who's face she couldn't see. Blood. A tag and crest, who's symbol was obscured, with a large crack running through it, fell from the man's body as he disappeared.  
  
The woman turned came closer to Kari's point of view. Kari could see nothing. Not her face. Not her hair. Everything was blurred. But she could see one thing as plain as day. Those eyes. Cold, stone, brown eyes.  
  
She desperately swam through the blackness of her dream-like state and came to her consciousness.  
  
"SHE'S ALIVE!" she shrieked. 


	2. Reunion and Separation

"Mistakes"

**Mistakes**  
_by Laura Kamida_  
**Rated PG-13 for Violence and Language**  
  


**Chapter 2 - Reunion and Separation**  
  
Her mind was desperate to be free. The warmth deep in her heart pushed forward, and she opened her eyes. Her head flooded with all the senses she had recovered. Taking deep breaths, her chest heaved up and down as she lay horizontal. Her eyes blinked rapidly as she tried to take in the unfamiliar surroundings.  
  
"Where -- where am I?"  
  
~*~  
  
Two ocean blue eyes opened to the new day. Curiously, the young boy jumped up and looked out the window. He furrowed his eyebrows. Nothing new. Still the same old blue sky. Still the same old placid forest. Takeru watched as a tiny Buttermon flew by, flapping its colorful wings. Same old thing everyday... Takeru wanted adventure. And there was only one person that he could find adventure with. His best friend.  
  
"Takeru!" a familiar voice called. "Takeeeeeeeruuuuuuuu!"  
  
Takeru grinned and grabbed his jeans. Pulling them up, he ran out of his hut. "See ya Matt!" he yelled. Matt grumbled and turned over in his bed.  
  
"Be careful, TK..."  
  
Takeru rolled his eyes and darted out the door. Only Matt could get away with calling him that anymore. "Hey Kari," he said. She was visibly shaken, she looked as if she was scared. "What's wrong?"  
  
"I -- I just had a strange dream, that's all. Let's go," she replied.  
  
He smiled and called, "Race ya to the pond!"  
  
Kari smiled weakly as they both took off.  
  
She was no match for him speedwise, but she had her agility to the advantage. She jumped and climbed a tree and leapt from branch to branch and finally came down about a yard ahead of him. Unfortunately, as sometimes happened, her foot landed in a bad spot, and she struggled for a moment to regain her balance. This gave Takeru enough of an opportunity to catch up.  
  
"Ha ha!" he laughed, taking a flying leap into the pond.  
  
Kari grinned. He usually beat her, and this was no different. She had shrugged off her worries, and she laughed heartily with her friend. Her dream had to be wrong... or maybe she had just seen it wrong.  
  
But as she ran up the giant rock next to the pond and dove off gracefully, she knew in the back of her mind that she was wrong -- that dream was true. The crack in the Crest. The blood. The woman. So very, very real.  
  
~*~  
  
"So, she's back," Tai said bitterly, slamming his fist against the tree. His fury and his hate was released into the bark of the tree, which crumbled and fell to the ground. "How is it possible!? We killed her!" He faced the giant tree and pummeled it angrily.  
  
"Tai, calm down," Sora said softly, placing her hands on his shoulders. He stopped his abuse on the tree and turned back to her. His frown slowly turned to a crooked smile from one side of his lips.  
  
"You're right," Tai replied, nodding. He pulled her close. _As close as I can get to her with her stomach sticking out... Oh, but it's worth it... Oh, please, God, let our kid live this time... It would tear her up... Please, God... It would tear me up too..._  
  
She tilted her head up so they could look each other in the face, and he gently put his head down and kissed her.  
  
"I love you," she murmured, releasing her lips from his.  
  
"I love you too," he replied.  
  
She turned her head and rested it on his chest. He put his face into her auburn hair and kissed her gently.  
  
"Honey, we do have to think about this, you know," Tai said.  
  
"We should be happy!" Sora said, not surprised by Tai's reaction to Kari's dream. "I mean, Mimi is back, and Izzy is back, and he'll be able to take us all home! How can this be a bad thing?"  
  
"You seem to forget a few things," Tai started.  
  
"I know, I know..." Sora replied, her mind shifting again to the child that was growing within her.  
  
"First of all, we've all aged, except for one of us. It's evident that Izzy went back to the real world while we were all here, right? That's how he stayed the same age. How can we explain this to our parents? Second of all, do you not remember what Mimi tried to do to you? And I still think she..." he drifted off, not wanting to finish his accusation.  
  
Sora pulled back, her hazel eyes fiery with anger. "She wouldn't do that, Tai. She wouldn't have done that to me. We were friends. I don't care if she went crazy. I don't think she would kill..." Through her whole statement tears started to flow from her eyes.  
  
"I'm sorry," he said quickly. "You're right, you're right... Shhhhh..." he said, hugging her tightly again.  
  
"And... and... the baby," Sora finally said, for the first time confessing her worries to Tai about their unborn baby. "Babies... And us... My mother... she'll hate me for this. She'll think that I'm some sort of --"  
  
"No, Sora!" Tai exclaimed. "I can't believe you would even think that! Your mother loves you. She'll understand, I'm sure of it!"  
  
"You don't know my mother..." Sora said.  
  
"Well, I guess I'm lucky," Tai joked. "Most boyfriends have to meet their girl's mom --"  
  
"Oh, Tai," Sora sighed, rolling her eyes.  
  
"Come on, Sora... Laugh." She looked at him with a small smirk on her face. "I'm going to make you laugh, you know."  
  
Sora smiled, and patted him on the chest with her hand. "We have to go back to Odaiba and tell the others about Kari's dream," she said with a tone of finality. "They can help us formulate a plan of how we're going to deal with her." She took Tai's hand and started to walk.  
  
Tai spun around suspiciously as he heard a rustling in the bushes. And he could have sworn he saw a flash of red. Sora turned toward him.  
  
"Tai, what is it!?"  
  
"Shhh! I heard something in the forest," he said, narrowing his eyes. "Something's out there." He stood for a moment, watching the forest, scanning over all the trees with his eyes and listening intently.  
  
Sora shivered in the silence. "Tai, there's nothing out there," she finally said after the long pause. "Not anymore. It was probably just some Digimon. Come on, let's get back to town." She looked him in the eyes, holding his arm and trying to lead him off. But he was still looking into the forest.  
  
Tai shook his head to clear his thoughts. "You're right," he said. He put his arm around her shoulders and they walked slowly to Odaiba.  
  
~*~  
  
Kari surfaced, splashing the water from the lake everywhere. She tossed her soaked hair back, her wet ponytail splattering Takeru with water. They both laughed. When they were together, they had the best times. They could have stayed and lounged all day in the water, or on the beach, but there was work that had to be done. Takeru reluctantly swam out of the water and perched on the giant rock that sat along the banks of the water with a fishing rod. It gave him time to think.  
  
Kari preferred the direct, and quick, approach. Her quick, lively brown eyes scanned the surface of the water for any disturbance. Takeru loved to watch her as she looked in deep concentration, the muscles near her eyes twitching as they moved along. She suddenly dove under the water, and grabbed a silvery fish with her hands. She gave the signal to Takeru by waving her left hand above the water, and he stood up, ready.  
  
Suddenly the fish flew out of the water and Takeru grabbed it. "Whoa!!!!" he yelled, trying to hold onto the fish, but losing his balance. "Uuuh... Uhhh... AAH!" he yelled as he fell in the water. Just as Kari resurfaced, the wave that Takeru had caused knocked her back down. They both came back up sputtering and spitting water.  
  
Takeru was empty handed. "Nice one, Takeru," Kari said dryly.  
  
Takeru blushed a little bit. "Well, it was slippery..." He started to continue, but he noticed she wasn't listening. She was looking in the water again. She probably saw that fish that Takeru had let go. She dove below the water, as she usually did, and Takeru swam desperately to get to the rock so he could catch the fish this time.  
  
He saw a flash of red in the forest and heard the trees rustling.  
  
"Huh? What's that?" He stood alert, ready for any impending danger. His mind raced with the possibilities.  
  
And he got his danger, much more than he imagined, floating out from behind the cover of the forest. Takeru's eyes widened, and his heart raced. Instinctively, he pulled out the pocketknife he always carried and held the blade out in his defense.  
  
Kari's head poked above the surface of the water. "Darn, I --"  
  
"KARI, GET DOWN!" Takeru yelled desperately, diving into the lake. Kari spun around to see what Takeru was yelling about. He reluctantly surfaced to pull her down with him, and she threw her arms around him for protection... but it was too late.  
  
"NOOOOO!" Kari shrieked as they were both pulled in by pure red energy.  
  
~*~ "Izzy!" Motimon cried, running toward Izzy. "I knew you were back when I digivolved from Pabumon coming into town! Oh, Izzy, I'm so glad to see you!" The tiny pink Digimon jumped into Izzy's arms. "But, Izzy... you look exactly the same! Everyone else looks so different..."  
  
"It's because I was actually taken back to the real world... and everyone else was kept here. And since time passes by faster here, they aged and I didn't," Izzy explained.  
  
"Oh," Motimon said, not fully understanding. "How did you get back to the real world?"  
  
"I don't know," Izzy admitted. "I really don't know." He thought about it for a moment, a silence taking over the reunion. They heard a rustling in the forest and they all turned.  
  
Tai and Sora came walking out of the forest into town. Agumon and Biyomon came running and ended up at their feet.  
  
"Hey, guys," Tai said, bending over and scratching Agumon's head. Biyomon flew up to Sora since she couldn't bend down. Sora held out some berries that she had picked in the forest. Biyomon gratefully gobbled them up.  
  
Izzy threw a knowing glance at Joe. Joe nodded slowly.  
  
"Everyone!" Tai called. "We have to go to the dining room to discuss something."  
  
"Oh boy," Matt said sarcastically under his breath. "Town meeting led by our Mayor, Tai Kamiya." Gabumon looked up at him curiously. Matt shook his head in a gesture of "Don't worry about it."  
  
Once they had all huddled at the table of the dining hut, Tai began, "Kari had a dream last night." Joe and Izzy looked at each other. Matt lifted an eyebrow. "It involved... Mimi. Kari says that Mimi is alive."  
  
"Impossible," Matt said quickly. "Garudamon killed Mimi. Why should we believe in some fourteen-year-old's dreams, anyway?"  
  
"Her dreams have been right in the past," Tai reminded him. "I mean, she did dream that Mimi attacked Sora in the kitchen, and she did. That dream was perfectly exact. I think we should trust her dreams, don't you?"  
  
Matt shrugged dismissively. "I don't know. I don't exactly believe in that 'psychic' stuff."  
  
Suddenly, they heard the soft buzzing of wings, and saw a fairy shape flying in the sky out of the window. Soon after, Lillymon flew gracefully through the door and hovered in front of it.  
  
"Lillymon!" Matt exclaimed incredulously.  
  
"So it's true," Tai growled. "She's alive. Just like Kari said. Palmon couldn't have digivolved into Togemon, and Togemon couldn't have digivolved into Lillymon without Mimi being alive." He looked smugly at Matt. Matt pretended not to notice.  
  
"Lillymon," Sora said softly, walking over to the Digimon. "You... you've seen Mimi."  
  
"Yes..." Lillymon admitted. "I have."  
  
"Is she still...?" Sora drifted off. It was a painful subject, with one of Mimi's closest friends. Lillymon bitterly remembered the flicker of evil across Mimi's face as she explained to everyone how almost killing "her little Palmon" was an accident.  
  
"She is... She's worse," Lillymon whispered. "She's so much worse. She's coming... Coming for you all. I came to warn you."  
  
"How could she possibly be alive!?" Tai demanded, roughly pushing Lillymon back. As he unintentionally pushed Sora with his shoulder, anger crept up the back of Matt's neck.  
  
"Calm down, Tai!" Matt shouted, jumping out of his chair and restraining Tai.  
  
"I don't know," Lillymon said, shaking her head slowly. "I only know that Mimi is even more dangerous. She has -- her own power now. She thinks that I am her ally, so she did not attack me, luckily... But... She is coming after you all."  
  
"So you're betraying Mimi, you're very best friend?" Tai said, doubt clear in his voice.. "How do we know that you're not leading us into some kind of trap? Leading us to Mimi?" If he had not been held by Matt, he... he didn't know exactly what he would be doing to Lillymon. He had always been more of a "take action now, ask questions later" type of guy.  
  
"No, I promise you, I would never --"  
  
Tai heard the familiar shriek of his precious little sister. "NOOOOO!"  
  
"KARI!" Tai yelled instinctively.  
  
"TK!" Matt yelled, knowing Takeru was with Kari.  
  
Everyone ran out of the building and sprinted down to the lake, Digimon digivolving as fast as they could to ward off any danger that threatened Kari and Takeru.  
  
Tai glared at Lillymon. A tear was sliding down her face.  
  
~*~  
  
_Kari. Must protect Kari. Where is she? Hair... Shoulder... Arm... Kari. Must save Kari._ "Kari," Takeru said desperately. "Kari!"  
  
"I'm here, Takeru!" she yelled back to him. The energy had kicked up winds and the water swirled around them. As it became more intense, he yelled out for her again... but he heard nothing. The sound wouldn't carry.  
  
Red. That's all he could see. Pure red. Shadows danced across his vision and occasionally he was splashed with water. He reached out and felt Kari's arm. His hand clasped around her shoulder and he pulled her back beside him.  
  
He suddenly found himself unable to breathe. Kari turned slowly toward him and hugged him tightly. He heard her muffled gasps for breath as well.  
  
_Matt. Patamon. Odaiba. Save me. Help me. Please._  
  
As he lost consciousness, feeling his lungs ache for oxygen, black splotches overpowering his vision... His mind reached out and his arms grasped tighter.  
  
_Kari._


	3. Bitterness and Hopelessness

"Mistakes"

**Mistakes**  
_by Laura Kamida_  
**Rated PG-13 for Violence and Language**  
  


**Chapter 3 - Bitterness and Hopelessness**  
  
He screeched to a halt right before he reached the shore of the lake. He saw blinding red light, unholy brightness overpowering him. He instinctively lifted his hands to shield his eyes. As suddenly as they had arrived, the light disappeared. There was nothing. Nothing but the dismally calm waters, not stirring at all, and a soft breeze that pervaded, insisting that nothing had happened at all.  
  
His mind shifted back and forth. The lake. The rock. The breeze... The kids. Where are they??? His heart raced, worry and adrenaline shooting through him. He tossed his head back and screamed to the air --   
  
"TK!!!"  
  
~*~  
  
AIR!!!  
  
Kari's eyes snapped open, and she inhaled deeply, her lungs greedily sucking in all the surrounding air. Wonderful, life giving oxygen. Her lungs had been deprived for so long that she had actually fallen unconscious. But somehow she had lived without oxygen. She had survived her brush with asphyxiation. But had Takeru?  
  
But now she was awake. She regained her senses, and she slowly started to comprehend her situation. It was very dim, but ut wasn't too dark to see around her. But perhaps this was because it was daytime, and the light of the sun penetrated through the window. She couldn't be sure, since she didn't know what time it was, or how long it had been since she had been captured.  
  
Where was Takeru?  
  
Where was _she_, for that matter?  
  
_This place... it's a... dungeon..._ she told herself, her eyes darting around the small chamber in fear, surveying the cold stone walls, floor, and a crude wooden door that had bars of metal crossing it. _I'm trapped in a dungeon_.  
  
She thought she heard a soft voice calling her name, but it was too quiet to be real. "Great," she muttered to herself. "I'm going crazy now..." But she still heard it. It couldn't be her imagination. It sounded too familiar. Finally she placed it.  
  
"Takeru!!!" she called back, searching desperately around the room for the owner of the voice.  
  
"Over here! There's a crack in the wall!" She looked around and finally saw a crack in the wall to her left. She ran over to it and put her face up to the crack.  
  
"I'm here!" She exhaled deeply in relief.  
  
"Where are we?" he asked.  
  
"A dungeon of some kind," she said.  
  
"It must belong to --"  
  
"-- Mimi."  
  
~*~  
  
"You LIAR!" Tai roared furiously, turning to Lillymon and grabbing her by her slim shoulders. The fire of anger coursed within his blood, and he wanted to strangle this traitorous Digimon until she felt the way he felt when he had first figured out what had happened.  
  
Like his body had gone limp, and the blood had been completely drained from him. Like his brain and heart were only dead weight, utterly useless.  
  
Tai was not, and had never been, a man of feelings, only of actions. So when feelings did hit him, he had to act quickly upon those feelings. And if it involved killing Lillymon, who had once been his friend, that didn't matter. What mattered was that he had to not only avenge his blind faith, but also his faithful, selfless little sister too. And Takeru.  
  
"Tai! I promise you I had nothing to do with this!"  
  
"How do we know you're not just lying to us? Like you're 'lying' to Mimi?" His whole body shook with rage. He was ready to attack. He just needed a breaking point, and that Digimon would have no hope. It was _her_ fault Kari was captured.  
  
"Tai..." Sora said quietly. "That's enough." She put her soft, caressing hands on his shoulders. And he calmed down. All the tension building up inside of him was washed away with the feel of her skin. Oh, how that woman had powers over him! How many times she had brought him back from the brink of insanity, rage, hopelessness with only her sweet touch and the utterance of his name, like angels singing! How he responded to the aura of her love and peace!  
  
The others looked on as Tai turned around, the fiery wrath drained from his eyes, all the color gone from his face. "I'm sorry for that outburst," he said, looking at everyone. He looked at Matt, who's frigid blue eyes narrowed at him... Izzy, who's frightened and confused expression simply expressed what everyone felt... Joe, who's face, as was normal these days, showed no emotion at all but thought... And Sora, who always showed him nothing but unconditional love. Tai was always the one to do the wrong thing, and then realize his mistake and apologize for it. One day, he realized, looking at their stunned faces, they wouldn't forgive him. They would believe he was just like Mimi.  
  
He turned back to Lillymon. "You know where Mimi is. The only way to redeem yourself is to take us there. We have to save Kari and Takeru."  
  
Lillymon nodded slowly. "I understand what you are saying, Tai. But I promise you, I had nothing to do with this. If you think I was sent to be a distraction so Mimi could capture them, you're wrong. I came to warn you about her, not to help her or harm her. Mimi is my friend, and although I will not help her and support what she's doing, I wouldn't dare hurt her in any way. And that includes leading you to her."  
  
"Then why did you come here?" Izzy inquired.  
  
"I told you..." she said. "I wasn't harming her, I was just trying to keep you safe. But now I have to go back, or else she will suspect my purpose."  
  
Sora nodded. "Just promise us that you will not hurt us in any way."  
  
"I promise." And with that, she flew away, her wings humming, the only sound in that fake tranquility.  
  
~*~  
  
Her fiery fists were clenched with anger. "WHERE IS SHE!?" she bellowed. Had she been betrayed? If so, the traitor would pay. If her plans were ruined, that traitor would pay for what they had done. Even if it meant death. Even if it meant killing her best friend.  
  
Her cold eyes narrowed as she watched her "friend," the betrayer, the liar, approach her quietly through the doorway.  
  
"Where have you been." It was not a question, it was a demand. A statement. "Tell me now, or you die. Tell me now, traitor. Where have you been. You've been there, haven't you. HAVEN'T YOU!" Her eyes glowed dangerously with fire.  
  
"I haven't been anywhere! I'm not a traitor, I promise!" she said innocently.  
  
"I'm tired of your careless promises, LIAR. It has to end now. By my hand." She thrust her fists forward, and they started to glow with fire.  
  
"No, no, please! _Please!_" But it was too late for the betrayer. The fire from her hands was pushed forward, and the traitor that she had once called her friend, with fires glowing all around her, fell from the window to her certain death.  
  
She smiled sinisterly and chuckled. Now only the Digidestined stood in the way of her ultimate goal. And they had nothing to save them.  
  
~*~  
  
"Kari, no matter what happens, I promise to protect you," Takeru pledged. But he had already failed at it. He hadn't protected her at the lake, and he wasn't protecting her now. _If something happened to her at this very moment, there wouldn't be anything I could do to save her,_ he mentally reminded himself. He scowled to himself. He had to be the strong one, and protect her, but he couldn't help her. They were trapped in this dismal dungeon with no way out, at Mimi's mercy.  
  
"I believe you, Takeru," she replied softly. But he could tell she didn't believe him. She was disappointed. She was hopeless. She didn't believe him.  
  
_How can I protect Kari when I can't even protect myself?_ Takeru thought, frustration creeping into his mind. "No you don't," he said quietly.  
  
"I believe you," she repeated. "You're my best friend. Of course I believe in you."  
  
"That's just fine..." he said dejectedly. "You're the only one who does. This was all my fault. I should have protected you!"  
  
He could hear Kari sigh from the other side of the wall. "It wasn't your fault that we were kidnaped, Takeru. There was nothing you could do. It was my fault." He could hear her crying. "It was all my fault and now someone's going to die for it."  
  
"What!? What do you mean, someone's going to die?"  
  
"I had a dream that Mimi had returned. And in my dream, she killed a man. One of the Digidestined. It's all going to come true, and Joe, Matt, or even Tai, is going... to die. And I told Tai, but it's too late... we've been kidnaped. This is all my fault. I should have known she would come after us. I mean, not only are we the youngest, but I am the only one that knows about her... She would have to get rid of me first. I'm sorry you got caught up in this, Takeru, I'm so sorry..." she broke off into sobs.  
  
"No, Kari, don't be sorry. I'm your friend, and we are in this together until the end."  
  
She sniffled, and there was a long silence after that. "I... I... I..." she began, trying to get out what she was going to say. "I -- thank you. Together until the end, that's us."  
  
His heart fell as he wondered what she was going to say to him. But there was time enough for whatever was going to happen... after they escaped from Mimi.  
  
Takeru leaned back and a grin spread across his easily smiling mouth as he imagined what life would be like with Kari as more than just his best friend.  
  
~*~  
  
Joe took his seat again in the dining hut where everyone had been before the kids had been captured. There was a tension that loomed over them. It was evident in their faces, their curt words with each other, and the way they sat. Tai and Matt stared at each other coldly. Matt was angry at Tai because of his uncontrollable temper and the way he acted when he was angry, and Tai was angry at Matt because of his "lack of initiative."  
  
"You're just too afraid to go and get your own little brother, Matt! What kind of brother are you, anyway!?" Tai yelled, jumping up and pushing his chair back violently. He slammed his hands down on the table.  
  
"I refuse to have this argument with you again, Tai," Matt said, with exasperation evident in his quiet voice. "Do you want to be stupid? Do you want to fall right into Mimi's trap? Do you really want all of us to be captured just like TK and Kari? Is that what you want? Then go right ahead. The smart ones in this group will stay behind and plan our attack, while you go off and get yourself killed."  
  
"And in the meantime, Mimi is torturing and killing our family! How can you just stand there and say we have to wait for that!?" Tai yelled. Now Matt stood up.  
  
"Tai, Matt, stop it, right now." The crystal clear, yet soft and sweet voice of Sora pervaded through as she slowly stood up. Matt and Tai slowly sat back down as if her voice had put them both into a trance. Joe found it strangely humorous how these two large men: Tai, who had to be 6'4" and Matt, who was at least three inches taller, weighing together over 400 pounds could be mellowed and calmed by this one amazing woman, who was barely 5'8" and hardly 175 pounds (and that was only because she was pregnant).  
  
But it had happened. Joe wondered if the community would have survived had it not been for Sora. He doubted it seriously. She was certainly one incredible woman.  
  
He had considered it many times, but no, Joe did not love Sora as anything more as a friend. Sure, he had feelings for her when they were little, but he had feelings for Mimi too. He hated his childhood, when he was just a nerdy older kid. He watched as Mimi and Sora blossomed and they only flirted with the cute boys, Matt and Tai. And even Izzy, just a little bit, before he was taken back to the real world. His heart had broken many times as he had seen Tai, Sora, Mimi, and Matt sitting by the campfire, talking, and doing other "couple" stuff, and had taken refuge in the woods with Gomamon so no one would see him cry and swear that things would soon be different.  
  
It was evident from the start that Tai and Sora would be the ones that would make it through the long haul. But Mimi and Matt just weren't compatible. They were too different. Still, it wasn't until Odaiba had been built and Joe had started to show his rugged side that Mimi started to fall for him. They became really close friends, but were only friends, until one night, when they had confessed their pent-up feelings for each other.  
  
"And we have to destroy her!" Tai said loudly, snapping Joe out of the memories he had been sinking into, although the words were not directed at him.  
  
"...And we have to destroy her..." the words echoed in Joe's mind. They had to destroy Mimi. The only girl he ever really loved.  
  
~*~  
  
Sora brushed her hair back with one hand and picked up the pillow in the other hand. She fluffed it, dropped it neatly on the bed, picked up the other, did the same, and made up the bed.  
  
"Honey, I made the bed this morning," Tai gently reminded her.  
  
"Yes, I know, dear," she said quickly. "But... I just feel better when everything is perfect." She didn't feel like explaining everything to him. When she was nervous, she straightened things up. And at the moment, she had plenty reason to be nervous.  
  
Tai snorted. He watched with a fascinated look on his face as she whirled around the bedroom, straightening everything up. She turned away from him and a pained grimace painted her face. She bit her lip to keep from crying out and looked down at her stomach. _It's too early..._ she told her stomach. _Too early!_  
  
She turned around, trying to make herself smile as she adjusted a mirror hanging on the wall.  
  
"Sora, what's wrong with you?" he questioned, genuinely concerned with her. He placed his hand on her arm softly, turning her toward him gently.  
  
"Nothing!" she lied. She kept telling herself that she was keeping it from Tai because she didn't want him to worry... but the truth was she didn't want to admit it to herself that her stupid, horrible body was doing it again... This baby was going to be born early again and it was going to die, just like before. _Some omen,_ she mentally scolded herself, thinking of the shooting star she had seen a couple of days before. _How could I possibly think that it would mean anything about the baby?_  
  
"Are you sure you're okay? You seem... jittery..."  
  
"Really, nothing's wro -- ... Oh -- _oh..._" she moaned, a cramp taking her by surprise. She started to fall down, but Tai rushed around her and caught her.  
  
"Sora!? What's wrong!?" He supported her and helped her up to the bed where she sat down, breath rapid.  
  
She looked at the fear in his big, beautiful, brown eyes, and realized she was mistaken in not telling him how she felt. It was his baby as well as hers... He deserved to know. "I'm sorry," she said. "For not telling you earlier..."  
  
"What!? What's wrong!?"  
  
"Something's wrong with the baby."  
  
~*~  
  
Matt leapt out of bed, awakened suddenly as he heard the voice of a man desperately cry out --  
  
"JOE!"  
  
Matt, heart racing, knowing there was an emergency, ran to the hut belonging to Tai and Sora. He didn't bother to knock on the door, just threw it open, Joe hot on his trail with his medical bag. Izzy was just behind Joe, all running into the bedroom where Sora was laying back on the bed.  
  
"JOE!" Tai began to cry again, his voice cracking in the middle. He spun around to see the three of them screech to a stop. Joe tried to get beside Sora to do an examination, but was hindered by the fact that Tai was stubbornly planted by her, his hand gripping hers tightly. Matt scowled, thinking what an idiot Tai was, knowing he was obviously in Joe's way. So, doing what first came to his mind, he moved behind Tai and roughly pulled him by the shoulders, to help Joe and Sora as best he could.  
  
At least, that's why he _told himself_ he pulled the other man back.  
  
"Let _go_ of me, Matt!" Tai yelled, shaking loose of his grip.  
  
"Man, don't you see you're in the way!" Matt yelled back. "I need to take care of my _wife_!" Tai spat. Matt quietly stared into Tai's angry face for a moment, and Tai turned away, getting on the other side of the bed and holding Sora's hand.  
  
"Sora," Joe began, "as far as I can tell, there is nothing wrong with the baby, and you're not going into labor. These are just false labor pains."  
  
Tai and Sora both sighed in relief. She put her hands on his face and kissed him firmly, on the lips. Matt watched the two, comfort and gratitude washed over their faces. They gazed into each other's eyes longingly, and Matt turned away, starting to walk out.  
  
"Look, Matt, I'm sorry," Tai said to his back.  
  
Matt turned around. "Yeah, no problem. I understand." He still walked away. "One more thing. If Sora feels up to it tomorrow, maybe she and Izzy could fly around on Kabuterimon and Birdramon to see if they can find Mimi's hideout. And if they can, then we can go and attack."  
  
Tai smiled. "Great."  
  
Matt turned his back on the happy couple. He heard Sora sniffle. "Tai... you told Matt that... I'm your... _wife_!" she exclaimed. Matt felt a twinge of... he couldn't decide what... in his heart as he remembered that it really hurt Sora to only be Tai's "girlfriend".  
  
His heart hurt as he walked back to the hut.  
  
"Where's _my_ love?" he whispered to himself, as he had so many times, wondering where the girl was that he deserved. He knew that somewhere, _someday_, he would find who he was destined to be with... but not in the stupid Digital World. He thought about how he had tried, tried _so hard_, to make it work with Mimi... but it just wasn't right. He desperately wanted love... but it was impossible. Sora had been taken from the start -- she and Tai had something very special between them. Mimi and he just weren't right for each other. She couldn't be herself when she was around him, and he couldn't be himself. They didn't have personalities that meshed together, and they didn't have the physical chemistry, either. Tai and Sora, however, had both. Matt bitterly resented Tai.  
  
For all the reasons possible.  
  
"We just have to get rid of Mimi as soon as possible," Matt muttered to himself. "So I can get home."  
  
~*~  
  
Joe had stayed behind with Sora and Tai to do a little further examination, Izzy saw it as the perfect opportunity. He had been separated from the others for six years; what was a couple of days? He had luckily grabbed his laptop before he had been transported from his bedroom back in the real world to the outskirts of Odaiba in the digital world.  
  
"To Everyone:  
I am going to examine the Digiworld and what has changed in my absence. I hope to be back as soon as possible. Please do not follow me and do not make any kind of attack on Mimi until I return.  
-Izzy"  
  
He strapped his computer to his back and started to walk away from Odaiba.  
  
"Izzy?"  
  
Izzy flinched and turned to the voice. It was Tentomon. "Don't you think it would be helpful if I digivolved and flew you to Machinedramon's city?"  
  
Izzy tilted his head to the side. "But -- how did you know that's where I wanted to go?"  
  
"Because that's the only place I know of that has a properly-working Internet connection!"  
  
Izzy smiled. "OK, you can come along."  
  
Tentomon digivolved into Kabuterimon and Izzy jumped on his back. Kabuterimon's wings buzzed steadily as they flew through the air. Izzy had hoped to get in some deep thinking while he was traveling, and the wind whipping into his spiked red hair cleared his brain of all the jumbling thoughts that bounced around.  
  
He really wanted to get online to do some studying. He wanted to log on to a mental health website and study insanity and manic depression. There had to be some sensible explanation of Mimi's activity.  
  
And Izzy had to find it. After all, he couldn't save her if he didn't know what he was up against. And he really, really wanted to be the gallant hero for once, the knight in shining armor, instead of just the brain. Especially for Mimi.  
  
~*~  
  
Kari jumped awake. "Takeru!" she said urgently. They had promised each other that one of them, if not both of them, would be awake at any given moment. Takeru was supposed to be awake now.  
  
"Yeah?" He was awake.  
  
"Did you hear that? I think someone's coming."  
  
"I didn't hear any --" A door slamming open from his side of the wall shattered the timid silence. "AAAAH!"  
  
"What!? What!? _TAKERU_!!!"  
  
"M -- M -- M -- MIMI!"  
  
Her muscles tensed. Mimi? Her heart raced as she heard Takeru say, in the bravest voice he could summon (she knew that voice, she had heard it many times when they explored together), "Mimi, you don't scare me. Do what you will. I will protect Kari!"  
  
She heard a sinister laugh...  
  
And suddenly the wall between their cells, and the wall opposite her door, were disintegrated in a burst of flames.  
  
~*~  
  
Tai climbed onto Birdramon's back and she took off silently. There was no way he was going to let Sora go, in her condition, off by herself into the enemy's territory, and there was no way he was going to sit around and wait for Izzy to come back when that horrible maniac had a hold of his sister. "Quiet," he whispered into Birdramon's ear.  
  
He dismissed it as his mind playing tricks on him because he only saw it for a second, as he saw the silhouette of a man standing outside of one of the huts out of the corner of his eye.  
  
~*~  
  
It was nighttime. She could tell that because the wall behind her had been blown away, letting in the tranquil darkness of the evening.  
  
The second beach ball-sized blast of fire careened toward her before she had even gotten over the shock of the first one. She didn't realize until the fireball went past where the wall had been and was pulled down by gravity that Takeru was being pushed off.  
  
"Takeru!" she yelled, her mind racing, as she dove and hit the ground, barely grabbing his hand. She looked down, fear tracing up her spine.  
  
The cliff was so high that she could not see the bottom. She knew if she let Takeru go that there would be no hope for him.  
  
"TAKERU! _HOLD ON_!" she shrieked. "Just hold on... _just hold on..._" she sputtered, trying to pull him back up, but their hands were slipping.  
  
He tried a last ditch effort to pull himself up, but it only resulted in wrenching his hands loose from hers.  
  
"_KARIIIIII!_"  
  
"NOOOOO!" Kari uttered, a primal scream of fear. She lowered her head in defeat. This couldn't happen, he was gone, she had failed, her best friend was dead, she had failed, she hadn't protected him like he had protected her so many times.  
  
"_NOOOOO!_" 


	4. Life and Love

"Mistakes"

**Mistakes**  
_by Laura Kamida_  
**Rated PG-13 for Violence and Language**  
  


**Chapter 4 - Life and Love**  
  
Two large eyes snapped open and a sharp gasp came forth. Then there was nothing. Total and complete silence. Total and complete darkness. But she could feel it: there was something, someone, some person beside her. Her hands groped the darkness around her to see if she could examine her surroundings. Her hand rested upon the person beside her. To her dismay, it was a cold body; they lacked the warmth of life. Whoever was beside her was dead.  
  
She blinked back tears, but she was reminded of her own situation. The tears were replaced with anger. She had made a mistake... and there was one way to rectify it.  
  
~*~  
  
"Oh -- oh, God, no..." Kari whispered. She layed prone on the ground, her head over the edge, looking down into the dark, seemingly bottomless canyon below. It had taken a while for the real realization to hit her, but when it did, it stunned her and took her breath away: he was really gone. Her bottom lip quivered, and burning tears streamed down her face.  
  
"TAKERU!!!!" she shrieked, her weakened body pushing forth the primal cry with all she could muster.  
  
Her whole body heaved with sobs. Her best friend was dead. Then... she heard something behind her. Footsteps. It was then that another realization hit her: she had to deal with the situation at hand:  
  
Mimi. Kari had to avenge Takeru. She couldn't just let herself die, otherwise Takeru would have died for nothing. A burning, fierce rage burned within her... Mimi had to die for what she had done.  
  
She turned over and in a flash was on her feet. Mimi was standing right there, and she uttered a sinister, savage laugh of triumph. Her flat, cold, dull eyes bore into Kari's... and Kari was jumping to attack her in a pure fury --  
  
And for a split second -- time stood still.  
  
~*~  
  
Matt kicked the dusty ground and scowled. "Who does he think he is anyway?" he asked himself. "I made a comprimise with him and what does he do? He takes off, not even on his own Digimon, and goes to attack Mimi. I know that's what he's doing. Arrogant bastard. He thinks he's the top dog, and he can save the world... well, he can't. He needs all of us... Izzy, Joe, Sora, and me... and he needs to grow up and figure that out... God, why does he always have to be like this? I don't see what she sees..."  
  
He cut himself off, and looked around to see if anyone was listening to him. The village was silent except for his even breaths.  
  
"Well, I won't leave her like _you_ did," he spat to the absent Tai. He walked toward Sora and Tai's hut.  
  
~*~  
  
Kari was frozen in mid pounce. Mimi was frozen with a look on her face that spoke _bring it on_.  
  
A bright light illuminated the darkness. Kari was startled, and tried to look around for the source of the light (and whether it was friend or foe) when she suddenly realized that it was coming from _her_. And in a half a second, it was all over, and everything went back into motion.  
  
Kari's momentum returned and she slammed into Mimi. They both fell to the ground, and Mimi started to scramble away with a horrified expression on her face. She stood up and started to run, but Kari chased after her.  
  
"No!!!" Mimi shrieked. She whistled shrilly. Suddenly a huge, serpentine, flying dragon emerged and Mimi jumped up, allowing it to fly under her and catch her. "Go, Dragomon, get us out of here!" The Digimon, awed by Kari's light, sped off.  
  
Kari was desperate to know what this light was, what it did. It was obviously some kind of power, it had terrified Mimi. But after Mimi had escaped, the mysterious light had not stopped, in fact, it only grew more intense. Kari wondered if it was an attack at all... The light grew so bright and overwhelming that she could hardly stand it... she tried to scream but no sound came out. Finally, just before everything went black, one last word was pushed from her mouth...  
  
"Ressurection," she breathed.  
  
~*~  
  
Izzy climbed slowly off of Kabuterimon's back and stared in awe at the site before him. "It's... it's... destroyed!" He looked forward at the pile of rubble and stone in front of him, all that was left of Machinedramon's city. It was all charred by fire, and crumbled to the ground. "Kabuterimon, did you know about this!?" The Digimon nodded slowly. "Well, why didn't you tell me!?"  
  
"I thought you needed to find out for yourself," Kabuterimon replied.  
  
"Why did I need to see this for myself!? Now you've just wasted all of our time, while Takeru and Kari are missing!"  
  
"Captured by Mimi..." Kabuterimon corrected.  
  
Izzy furrowed his eyebrows and turned back to the burned ruins of the city where he had been not too long ago. "You don't know that."  
  
"I _do_ know that, Izzy."  
  
"Nevermind them. I just want to know what happened to this city."  
  
"I was flying patrol over this part of the Digiworld. It was the day after you came back. I was so happy to have my old post back again. Ever since I de-digivolved, I couldn't patrol... but now I could! Anyway, I was flying over and I saw a bright red light, and a Dragomon (that's an evil Digimon) flying through the air. Then the whole city exploded into flames. I could hear the Digimon within scream but there was nothing I could do. It all happened in a split second. I didn't realize it then, but now I know -- it was Mimi."  
  
"You don't know that, Kabuterimon. You have to stop jumping to conclusions."  
  
"And _you_ have to stop denying the truth, Izzy." Izzy turned back to him, staring. "Don't say anything, Izzy, you know it's true. You don't believe Mimi's really evil. You were here to see if there was anything online that you could find that would make Mimi 'sane' again."  
  
"She's sick, Kabuterimon. Very sick. Sick in the mind. Everyone has their breaking point and being out here in the wilderness and trying to survive made her meet hers... And if I can just --"  
  
"No," Kabuterimon said, cutting him off. "You can't fix her. She's not sick. She's not insane. No one that's insane can do the things she's done. She's perfectly sane... she's just... Evil."  
  
"No," Izzy said fiercly, his blood starting to boil. "No. I will find a way to bring the old Mimi back. If it's the last thing I do. Now let's go back to Odaiba."  
  
~*~  
  
Kari was not sure how much later it was when she blinked herself awake but she could hear a noise in the back of her mind. It was soft, and she focused her ears, just like she had done so many times fishing with -- Her heart started to break all over again with the thought of Takeru. She tried to stop concentrating on him, but it was impossible. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and the sound started to become louder.  
  
Kari tried to decipher what the noise meant... It was the soft buzzing of wings.  
  
~*~  
  
Joe tossed and turned in his bed. He had nightmares that he couldn't remember when he woke up and continued to wake up in a cold sweat, breathing heavily. He peeled his soaked shirt off of his body and threw it to the side. He couldn't shake thoughts he had in his head that he couldn't identify.  
  
Izzy had gone off alone to "explore the digiworld." So Joe was alone. He turned over in the bed again and stared out the window. A soft, cool breeze made the trees sway slowly back and forth. He was very glad Izzy was gone when a tear slowly traced its way down his face.  
  
He had suspicions about what Izzy wanted to do. He suspected that Izzy wanted to save Mimi... from the other Digidestined, and from herself. Izzy thought she had some sort of mental disorder... Joe was no psychiatrist... and he hadn't had enough time to examine Mimi anyway.  
  
But even though he wasn't a psychiatrist... he could see true love as well as anyone else could... and Izzy loved Mimi as more than just a friend. Joe wondered if perhaps things would be different if Mimi and Izzy had never been separated.  
  
He wasn't sure what to think anymore... what if Mimi loved Izzy? What would happen if Izzy really could save her? What would happen to him if the only girl he ever loved really loved another?  
  
~*~  
  
A figure started to rise out of the darkness of the pit below. Kari's heart started to race as she stared in wonder. It couldn't be!!! Her spirit rose as she watched two familiar figures approach.  
  
Lillymon!!! And... _Takeru_!!!  
  
"_Takeru_!?" Kari screamed. "Oh, Takeru, I'm so glad to see you!!!"  
  
"Kari?" Lillymon asked. "I heard screaming and a flash of light... I thought she had hurt you... But you must have beat her..."  
  
"Almost... It was a draw. She ran off after I started glowing..."  
  
Lillymon reached the top of the cliff and let Takeru go. He ran to Kari and they stood face to face. "I have to go now," she said. "But I can't carry the both of you, and I can't leave one of you alone here. You two have to protect each other... I have to lead the others to Mimi..." she drifted off. Her eyes narrowed. "She's gone too far now."  
  
"Good luck!" Kari called as Lillymon flew off. The two friends watched as she disappeared on the horizon. Kari blinked as the first rays of sunrise peeked over the jagged cliffs of Mimi's mountain territory. Takeru grinned. Kari adored that smile. The way his gorgeous blue eyes sparkeld, the jovial, carefree look to his face, and his sweet lips curved up playfully.  
  
"Kari, I'm so glad you're okay," he said.  
  
"I was so worried," she admitted. "I thought I had lost you."  
Takeru hugged her. They had hugged many times, but there was something different about this embrace. She couldn't figure out what it was, though.  
  
All of this became scraps of thoughts, like wisps of smoke in her mind, when she looked into his eyes, at his face. The sunlight hit it, and there was something perfect, something magical in that moment, and she couldn't think about anything but... Takeru.  
  
And two souls converged in the dawn when he kissed her.  
  
~*~  
  
Dawn approached, and still Matt kept his silent vigil over the beautiful, sleeping Sora, sitting on the edge of the bed that she shared with Tai. He watched her body raise slowly, evenly, with each breath taken. Her back was facing him, and her hair elegantly layed all over. He turned to see the first light of dawn, and turned back to Sora. He felt a strong responsibility to her, a need to protect her. Especially since her "husband" didn't do it half the time.  
  
"He doesn't deserve you..." he whispered, the words barely escaping his lips. He slowly, hesitantly, reached out and gently touched her long, auburn hair. He ran his fingers through it and she stirred, almost waking. Matt, in a panic, rushed out just before she woke up so she wouldn't see him, stealing one last look back at her before he darted out the door.  
  
~*~  
  
Sora stretched, yawned, and turned over to hug Tai. He had been playing with her hair. He loved to do that, and she loved it when he did. She remembered how when they first began to date, and he would take off her hat and run his fingers through her hair. He had told her that he loved her hair, and she decided to grow it out... and she hadn't cut it since.  
  
She giggled and reached over, her arms stretching and feeling...  
  
Nothing.  
  
Her eyes snapped open to see...  
  
Nobody.  
  
"Tai?"  
  
~*~  
  
The ground rushed underneath of him and the wind from his fast flying whisked his hair back. He looked forward and saw mountainous peaks. _Maybe that's where Mimi is hiding out._  
  
Tai tried to think about finding Takeru and Kari, but all he could think about was that mirage he saw... that image of a man standing in the village... Watching him. He had been watching him, watching what he was doing... and Tai felt an awful pang of guilt for leaving everyone behind... Tai knew how headstrong he could be sometimes.  
  
_What am I doing? I need everyone else's help to beat Mimi and get them back... I know that she's strong, I mean, she was one of us at one time... and she came back to life after we killed her... and who knows what Digimon she has on her side... And Matt said that we could all go together... Poor Sora, she's all alone there... and sick too... What if she has problems with the baby and I'm not there to help her??? Oh, God, what have I done!?_  
  
Matt was right about him. He was stupid. _Well, I'll never be stupid like this ever again,_ he vowed to himself. _And I'll never leave you behind again, Sora,_ he secretly promised her.   
  
"Birdramon... turn around. We have to go back."  
  
~*~  
  
Takeru's heart fluttered as well as his eyelids. He had not planned this move... It had just... happened. And now he couldn't think of anything but the fact that he had been waiting for this moment ever since he realized that he liked Kari as more than a friend. Kari tensed up at first, but she relaxed after a second. Takeru was relieved that maybe she felt the same way about him that he felt about her. He put his arms around her, and she did the same to him.  
  
They broke the kiss, and she looked into his eyes.  
  
"This is... so strange," she whispered. Takeru looked back at her.  
  
"Yes..." he said. "But isn't it great?"  
  
Kari nodded slowly, and Takeru's heart was ready to burst with joy. "Yes, it is." 


	5. Fear and Betrayal

"Mistakes"

**Mistakes**  
_by Laura Kamida_  
**Rated PG-13 for Violence and Language**  
  


**Chapter 5 - Fear and Betrayal**  
  
"Izzy, you saved me..." Mimi said. "The truth is... is that I always thought you were someone special, Izzy. I always knew that you were wonderful."  
  
"Thank you, Mimi," Izzy said. "I always knew you were special too."  
  
"Izzy, I've been in love with you ever since we landed here in Digiworld, I just never had the courage to tell you because you've always been so reserved, so secretive... But now... I just have to tell you."  
  
"I love you too, Mimi..." Izzy replied, stepping forward to Mimi. Mimi leaned down and kissed him slowly on the cheek, and then -  
  
~*~  
  
"NOOOOOOO!!!!!" Joe screamed, bolting straight up in his bed. His breath was heavy, and he looked around, as light from the sunrise spilled in through his window.  
  
"Joe, what's wrong?" Izzy asked. He had been laying in the floor, but sat up after hearing Joe yell.  
  
"Izzy...! When did you get back?" Joe stammered. He couldn't very well tell him about the dream he had just had... Izzy could never know that Joe was afraid of him taking Mimi away. _He's 11 years old!_ Joe mentally yelled at himself. _He can't take Mimi away! Things have changed since he's been gone. Mimi has grown. We all have... Except him._ "A couple of hours ago. I didn't want to wake you, so I just came in and went to sleep," Izzy replied. "Why did you scream?"  
  
"I had... a nightmare." Not lying. Not lying yet. Trying not to lie to his friend Izzy.  
  
"About what? Maybe if you talk about it you can get over your fears. Trust me, it works."  
  
"Mimi." Still not lying. Not lying yet. "She did... something awful."  
  
Izzy stood up angrily. His eyes narrowed and he gritted his teeth. "Honestly, Joe, I thought _you_ were different from the others. They all just assume that Mimi is behind all this when there is no physical proof. I thought you loved her, Joe. Of all people, _you_ should have a little bit of faith in her!" He turned on his heel and stormed out.  
  
"Izzy?" Joe called. He had kept his secret, and Izzy was still angry. "What did I say?" He scratched his head and put his glasses on. _One minute Izzy wants to save Mimi, not hurt her, the next he's denying she's done anything... what if he's on her side? What if that's where he went... to her hideout!?_  
  
~*~  
  
Sora stumbled out of the hut and looked around. "Tai!" she called. "Tai!!!" This wasn't like him... he never left in the morning without saying goodbye to her... or without eating. She started to worry... but there weren't many things that Tai couldn't handle and whatever he couldn't handle Wargreymon could.  
  
Well, wherever Tai was, the rest of Odaiba had to be taken care of... _Maybe the kitchen needs straightening..._ she thought, hurrying off to the dining hut.  
  
She gasped, startled, as she saw someone sitting in one of the chairs. "Tai? Oh... no, sorry Matt... I thought you were Tai."  
  
"Yeah," Matt grumbled. He looked at her, a blank look in his emotional blue eyes.  
  
"What's wrong, Matt?" Sora questioned, sitting beside him.  
  
"Nothing," he said, but she wasn't convinced of it.  
  
"Well... All right..." she said. "But... If there is something, you tell me about it, okay? Because I'm your friend and I'll help you through anything." She smiled, and he forced a smile back. "Now, I have to go cook something for all you hungry men..." She laughed lightly and stood up.  
  
She walked away, biting her lip nervously, and straightening a chair.   
  
_Tai... Where are you?_ she wondered to herself.  
  
~*~  
  
Matt watched as Sora walked off into the kitchen, and again mentally kicked himself for what he had done the previous night: not only going into the hut that Tai and Sora shared, and not only sitting on the bed where the two of them slept together, but in addition to watching another man's "wife," he had thought about her romantically... Only his willpower and his memory of what acting on crazy split-second emotions did kept him from making a move on Sora.  
  
_~~FLASH BACK~~_  
  
The little blonde-haired boy picked up the square object which had been thrown across the room in the big fight between Mommy and Daddy. He looked at the picture in the frame, the glass shattered and falling out onto the floor below. A tear ran down his nine-year-old face as he looked at the "happy" family that was no more... beautiful, sweet Mommy, strong, handsome Daddy, young, cute Yamato, and little TK. TK was too young to realize what was going on, Yamato was not, and he would never tell him either. TK continued to think, and would always think, that Mommy was Mommy and Daddy was _really_ Daddy and he and Yamato were brothers.  
  
But Yamato was burdened with the truth. And so was Daddy. Some other man was TK's father. That man was long gone now, but the memory was still branded in Daddy's mind, and Yamato, although just nine, saw it in his father's eyes every time he looked at Mommy.  
  
Mommy walked by Yamato without even speaking to him, toward the door, with little TK in one arm and a bag in the other. She placed the bag down softly by the door and turned back around slowly. Yamato spun around, and Daddy was standing behind him. He had a emotionless expression on his face.  
  
"Mommy! Don't go!" Yamato cried, turning back toward his mother and starting to run. But something stopped him. He turned slowly and saw his father's large hand placed on his shoulder.  
  
"Yamato, I'm sorry... But your Mommy has to go now. Say goodbye to her and TK," his father's strong voice said, bitterness evident in his voice though he tried to hide it.  
  
The little boy's eyes filled with tears. "No, don't go! Don't go, Mommy! Don't take my baby brother away!"  
  
"Goodbye, little Matt," Mommy said, tears in her own eyes. She picked up her bags and walked out the door, TK beginning to wail.  
  
And little Yamato never went by Yamato again. He needed something to remember his mother by.  
  
_~~END OF FLASH BACK~~_  
  
And that was what acting upon split-second emotions did to people. His mother and father divorced and split up two half-brothers because of one small fight that caused his mother to go to another man's house that night so long ago.  
  
Sora belonged with Tai. And Matt didn't have the right to do anything to ruin that.  
  
Sora could see right through him -- see everything that he was feeling. She could see that there was something wrong with him... no one had ever been able to read his emotions before. Not his mother, not his father, not even TK. They would just look at him, and not be able to decipher the look that he painted on his face. The far-gone look that he had worked on ever since that day when his mother said "Goodbye, little Matt," and left him behind. The cold, emotionless look that he got from his father. He could hide behind it, tell everyone there was nothing wrong... but he didn't fool Sora. Sora knew.  
  
"_Sora!_" a voice desperately wailed from outside.  
  
Sora came running as fast as a pregnant woman can out of the kitchen and through the dining room. "_TAI!_" she yelled. "Tai, you came back!" she exclaimed, running to him. Matt jumped up and followed her over to the edge of the town. Joe ran over as well, and Izzy slowly walked out of Mimi and Kari's hut over to the others.  
  
Tai picked Sora up and twirled her around gently, then put her back down. "I'm so sorry I worried you," he whispered, nuzzling his face into her neck.  
  
"Oh, I don't care, Tai, as long as you're back, safe and sound. It's okay," she said.  
  
"No," he declared, pushing her away and holding her at arms' length. "It's not okay, Sora. What I did was wrong and inconsiderate." He got down on his knees in front of her, and she looked down at him, astonished. "Please forgive me, Sora. You've made me happy for all these years, and what do I do in return? Things like this that worry you. I can't believe I left you and the baby here while I went off." He gently kissed her stomach. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'll never do anything like that again."  
  
"Oh, Tai... Of course I will forgive you," she said, lovingly running her fingers through his hair. Tai slowly stood up and turned to Matt.  
  
Matt felt something... he wasn't sure what... some unsettling feeling, deep in his stomach. It was... as if Tai knew what he'd been thinking last night and was going to confront him about it.  
  
"Matt," he said slowly, "You were right before."  
  
"Huh?" Matt questioned, confused.  
  
"Before, in the dining room, when you said I was stupid. You were right. I _am_ stupid. I --"  
  
Matt was incredibly surprised by this heartfelt gesture. "No, you're not stupid, Tai. What I meant was --"  
  
"No, Matt it's true," he said. "I'm stupid, irresponsible, and incapable of being as good a leader as you deserve. But I will try my best from now on to be the best leader I can be." He extended his hand to shake, and Matt took it, feeling a pang of regret in his stomach.  
  
"You are a good leader," he said simply. "You may make rash decisions sometimes, but sometimes that can be a virtue."  
  
Tai nodded slowly. "Thank you." He turned back to Sora and kissed her passionately. She kissed him back, unintentionally breaking it by smiling widely. "I love you," he whispered.  
  
"I love you too," she replied.  
  
Again, Matt's mind shifted back to the feelings he was having before. They had to get home. He had to find love. Love like this... he needed it. Love like Sora had for Tai. He wanted a girl... a _woman_... to love him like that. And to get that, to get home, they had to go and find Mimi... and kill her. To him, love was worth it. Love like that was worth anything. Even defying the Crest of Friendship.  
  
"All right," Matt said, a hint of anger within his voice. "We have to go find Mimi's hideout... find TK and Kari... and finally get all this bullshit with Mimi over with."  
  
Izzy expelled a breath of air angrily. "Fine then, go off and destroy someone that you don't even know is alive, much less know is guilty!"  
  
Matt turned angrily to Izzy. "We know it's her, Izzy. We have the proof!"  
  
"All you have is circumstantial evidence. You've got no hard core proof!"  
  
"We have all the proof we need, Izzy. I'm sorry if you're in love with Satan, but you have to stop denying what we all know!"  
  
"_SHE'S NOT SATAN!_" Izzy yelled furiously, tears forming in his eyes. He charged at Matt full speed, crashing into him and sending the both of them falling to the ground.  
  
"No, Izzy, Matt, don't!" Sora cried.  
  
Izzy futilely tried to punch him, but Matt held him back, and eventually pushed him off onto the ground.  
  
"_Listen!_" Matt said roughly, pushing Izzy down by the shoulders.  
  
"Matt," Tai began, grabbing Matt's shoulders.  
  
"Tai, I can handle this," Matt argued, shaking him off. "This little one here just needs to stop acting like he can save Mimi and that we're the bad guys and she's some angel. He needs to understand that destroying her is what's best for all of us." He looked back down to Izzy, who was struggling beneath his strong hands, with a frigid look in his icy blue eyes. Izzy refused to look back. He closed his eyes, and a tear slowly fell from the corner of each eye and slid down the young boy's face. "Look, Izzy," Matt continued calmly, "we were all friends with Mimi. Not one of us wants to see her dead. We all want to see her just as perfect as she used to be, but it's just not going to happen. So get over it and help us work as a team... please, Izzy."  
  
Izzy slowly nodded his head, still keeping his eyes closed. "Whatever's best... for the team," he said, his voice cracking.  
  
~*~  
  
Izzy wiped the tears from his face... He hadn't wanted to cry in front of the others... but the tears just naturally came to him... There was nothing he could do. His love for Mimi was apparent to the others... and they would probably think that he couldn't be trusted: that he was loyal to Mimi. And it was true... If he could help it, he would not hurt her... He would protect her in any way he could.  
  
He took slow, deep breaths. Matt stood up and helped him to his feet. "I'm... going back to the house," he said slowly.  
  
"Who's?" Joe asked softly.  
  
Izzy looked at him strangely. "Yours..." he replied. "Who else's?"  
  
"Mimi's, maybe?" All of the other Digidestined looked over to Joe. "I mean... I just thought... Well, to tell you the truth, Izzy, I know where you went with Kabuterimon. You went to Mimi's hideout, didn't you?" Izzy tilted his head to the side. "I mean... we all know that you want to protect Mimi... but I think that maybe... I mean... what I'm trying to say is... Are you _helping_ Mimi?"  
  
"What?" Izzy asked incredulously. "I have no idea where Mimi is! And if I did, I would tell... all of you..." he began to drift off as he wondered to himself whether this was really true or not. He would want the problem to be resolved... but would he risk Mimi's life to do so? He felt a sick feeling in his stomach with his indecision.  
  
Joe looked at him... It was a cold look. He didn't believe in what Izzy said. _Well, I don't even believe in what I said,_ Izzy thought to himself. _Why should anyone else?_ It wasn't that he was on Mimi's side... it was just that he wasn't against her.  
  
The others all looked at Izzy too, as if to say, _Well? What's going on?_  
  
Suddenly the group heard the faint buzzing of wings...  
  
_Just like Lillymon..._ Izzy realized slowly. _I'm just like Lillymon._  
  
~*~  
  
Takeru shook Kari awake. "Kari, Kari... we have to get out of here. At the very least, we have to hide until Lillymon brings the others. We can't stay here... Mimi will be back."  
  
"_Let_ her come back," Kari said bravely. "In fact, I _hope_ she comes back," she continued, baring her teeth fiercely and holding her fists up. "Let her take her best shot. I'm ready for her. I'll stand and fight."  
  
Takeru lifted an eyebrow. "Kari... This isn't like you... You like to think things through... But now... you're starting to remind me of... _Tai_..."  
  
Kari smiled, and in her eyes, he saw the ambition and determination of her older brother. "Good," she said. "I'm going to be like Tai. I'm going to take charge and take a course of action... because no matter what happens, that dream will not come true. No matter what I have to do."  
  
Takeru smiled... The smile came so easily, so freely... because he was so happy with Kari. There was something about her... something in the way she walked, something in the way she stood, something in her deep, caring brown eyes... something that drew Takeru to her like a moth to a candle in the dark night.  
  
He leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. She turned to him, a bit startled, but then smiled. Her smile made him feel good, like nothing was wrong in the world.  
  
"I think we need to talk," she said.  
  
~*~  
  
"Something's gone wrong. The effect isn't the same as it used to be. The magic wears off too soon... I think that there's some outside force affecting the power I have..."  
  
"Yes, Master, I've noticed the same thing..."  
  
"I wish I knew what it was so I could destroy it... I need this power... otherwise my goal will fail! Every piece of the puzzle needs to be present for me to overpower the Digidestined!"  
  
"Perhaps... great and powerful Master... perhaps..."  
  
"What!? What is it!?"  
  
"Perhaps it is love." 


	6. The Counter-Attack

"Mistakes"

**Mistakes**  
_by Laura Kamida_  
**Rated PG-13 for Violence and Language**  
  


**Chapter 6 - The Counter Attack**   
  
Two lonely, hazel eyes stared into the mirror at the reflection within, brimming with tears. There was something different about her, something that had changed after all these years, and she barely recognized her own face in the mirror looking back at her. _Exactly who am I?_ her mind asked, as she ran her slender fingers through her long, light brown hair. There was something missing in her life, something vital and important. _Why am I here?_ she pondered, looking around the room that had become her home. There was the vanity where she was seated, where there was makeup and a mirror and everything she could have dreamed of when she was younger... There was the big feather bed with the elegant canopy... There was the beautiful plush carpet and the soft curtains... But underneath all of that this room was her prison. I miss my friends, her subconscious whispered. All of these luxuries were nothing, because she had no one to share them with.  
  
She sighed loudly as tears started to fall from her eyes, tracing their way down her cheeks until they softly fell onto her clothes. "What kind of life is this!?" she asked herself out loud. She lived in suspended moments, not knowing where one memory stopped and the next began. "I don't know what today is," she started, "I don't know what I did, what I felt, what I thought, what I ate yesterday!"  
  
"... I just want to go home."  
  
~*~  
  
"Lillymon!" Sora exclaimed. "You're back!" Her hold tightened on Tai. Similar cries were uttered from the rest of the Digidestined. All except for Izzy. He was too busy nursing his pride and his wounds to worry about the Digimon that had approached. He stole a glance over at Joe. Joe, the one that he thought would be his ally when it came to dealings with Mimi. Joe, the one who made the ridiculous accusation that he was loyal to and helping Mimi.  
  
Izzy wondered if it was so stupid after all... Sure, he hadn't even seen Mimi, and therefore hadn't helped her, but if the opportunity arose? He tried to convince himself and everyone else that she wasn't the guilty party in the first place, but if he found her... would he help her? It was a question better left unanswered in Izzy's mind for now.  
  
He turned his body to Lillymon and the others, just in time to hear her speak the last thing that he wanted to hear.  
  
"I've come to lead you to Mimi," she said gravely.  
  
~*~  
  
As Tai looked around at the faces of the other Digidestined, it seemed that they were all as shocked as he was about the newest revelation. Sora looked at him and back at Lillymon, her eyes wide with shock. Matt looked surprised, yet suspicious, and with good reason. Neither of the men had trusted Lillymon, Tai distrusted her from the beginning, and after Lillymon had distracted them just as Mimi was capturing the kids... He had been silently against her. Izzy looked like his world had just crumbled, like the one person he could rely upon had just betrayed him, his eyes were wide with a kind of sudden disappointment. Joe's face was expressionless, as it usually was these days. He was deep into his own thoughts.  
  
"Why - I mean, what made you change your mind, Lillymon?" Tai stammered.  
  
"She's too dangerous now," Lillymon said. "I can no longer keep her at bay. She's stepped over the line. Far over. She tr - deliberately - tried to kill me. And," she added softly, "Takeru would be dead now if it weren't for Kari."  
  
Tai gasped and covered his mouth with one hand as his mind clicked. He had pushed Kari and Takeru's plight to the back of his mind with thoughts of Sora and the baby, and had almost forgotten. His heart tightened in his chest - Kari was in trouble and _he_ was standing around doing nothing. _Why can't I set my damn priorities straight!? _ he thought viciously to himself. His mind went black, and in the silence that was his mind at the moment, his conscience venomously whispered to him: _Who do you really care about more, Taichi Kamiya? Sora or Kari?_ He gasped aloud. It was a question he couldn't answer. Didn't dare answer. He couldn't prioritize the love of his life over his sister, or his sister over the love of his life. Kari was blood. Sora was soul. He couldn't live without either of them, and didn't want to.  
  
"Kari!" he whispered, his voice cracking. "Oh, God, what have I done!? Kari!" He turned away from the others and took a few steps.  
  
"Tai!" Sora called, spinning around and following him. She dodged in front of him and tried to look into his soulful brown eyes. But he refused to look at her. Because, if he looked at her, he would be immersed in her strength and it would make him feel complete again. But he deserved to feel the guilt for Kari being imprisoned. It was his fault, and he needed to feel the hurt for it. "Tai," she repeated in a whisper, putting her arms on his shoulders and pressing her forehead against his. He could feel her warm breath on his face and she had forced him to look into her eyes. "Tai, you have to stop punishing yourself over this."  
  
"I can't, Sora," he said. "Kari is in trouble because I didn't save her. It's all my fault - "  
  
"You're only one man," she said gently, cutting him off. "You can't do everything."  
  
"I have to save her, it's _my_ fault she's not here, safe and sound. I have to save her because I'm her big brother and she's my responsibility. I have to go right now and find her!"  
  
"... And we'll all go with you," Matt interjected. He looked around at the other Digidestined, his gaze finally falling on the youngest. "All of us."  
  
Izzy suddenly felt the ringing in his ears that he had felt when Tai attacked him in the sewer system in Machinedramon's city. It hadn't been so long ago in Izzy's life, a little over a month, maybe... But in Tai's life... more than six years had gone by. He probably wouldn't remember it if Izzy reminded him. Tai had punched him in the face because Izzy was trying to put their health before Kari's...  
  
_There are other people's lives at stake here besides mine... _Izzy thought to himself. _I understand now that I have to let them find Mimi... even if I love her... Because Tai needs to find Kari and Matt needs to find Takeru... and I can't just let my feelings stand in the way of that. Matt's right. We _all _must go. That's what Mimi would want us to do._  
  
"All of us," Izzy echoed softly, his voice sounding detached.  
  
Tai slowly smiled. "All _right_," the brunette said with fake resignation. "We'll _all_ go." He turned to the Ultimate level Digimon and said strongly: "OK, Lillymon! Lead the way! On to the fortress!"  
  
~*~  
  
The Digidestined were all traveling by the proud-to-be-useful Digimon; Matt quickly cleared a path on the ground, on Metalgarurumon. Tai was holding Koromon while he and Sora rode Garudamon. Joe, holding Gomamon and his medical bag, was sitting on Kabuterimon's back with Izzy. Izzy was cold and quiet, obviously fuming on the inside about what Joe had said back in Odaiba, even though Izzy was not fighting against the Digidestined anymore about Mimi. Now, if it had been Matt or Tai that had been accused, he would currently have a black eye. But no... Izzy was vastly different. Izzy was like him: calm, silently angry, the type not to explode, but to bake in his fury.  
  
Suddenly, Izzy gasped loudly. Joe whirled his head around from his view of Izzy to see what he was so appalled about... In the mountains, nestled deep within the dangerous cliffs and rock outcrops, was a sinister looking castle.  
  
"That's Mimi's fortress..." Lillymon explained gravely, swooping down and hovering over Joe and Izzy.  
  
"Lillymon?" Izzy began. "Why did you bring us here? What is your plan to deal with her?" He paused for a moment, and then looked deeply into Lillymon's coal-black eyes. "Do you want her dead?"  
  
Lillymon didn't answer the question right away. She paused, looking at Izzy. "No, Izzy, I don't want her dead... I just want this whole thing over. I want her back to normal. She's destructive to everyone, and even herself. You have to understand, Izzy... She's just not the same old Mimi anymore. She's... evil."  
  
Izzy sighed in exasperation. "Why does everyone keep _saying_ that!?"  
  
~*~  
  
"...Talk?" Takeru gulped. Was Kari breaking up with him? ... But they weren't even technically together yet, were they? What did she want to talk about? _Girls... I could live a hundred years and I'd never understand them_, Takeru thought peevishly.  
  
Kari didn't answer his question, however. Instead, she gave a gesture to be quiet, and shielded her eyes against the sun. "I see something!" she whispered excitedly. "Maybe it's my brother!"  
  
"Maybe..." Takeru said, drifting off. _Great, just great. I never get the chance to be the hero...he thought dejectedly. First, I can't protect Kari when we get kidnapped. Then, after Mimi attacks, Kari saves me! Then, when I finally get the chance to protect her while it's just the two of us, Tai and Matt come along... I wish, just for once, I could be the lifesaver around here..._  
  
"TAI!" Kari screamed, breaking Takeru's train of thought. "TAAAAIIII!!!! TAAAAIIII!!!! TAAAAAAIIII - !"  
  
Takeru cut her off by covering her mouth. "SHHH!" he said. "What if it's not them!? What if it's Mimi!? Or some evil Digimon!?"  
  
"It's them," Kari said angrily, shaking herself loose from Takeru's grip. "I _know_ it is," she said strongly. "It's Tai."  
  
"KARI!" Tai's voice called. It echoed through the cliffs and bounced off the rocks. "Kari... Kari... Kari..." the echoes whispered all around them. Kari smiled smugly.  
  
Takeru looked at her and rolled his eyes. _Just like Tai..._ he thought. _Just like Tai..._  
  
~*~  
  
"NO! This CANNOT happen! The Digidestined cannot be reunited on this mountain. If it is so... the prophecy.... and then..."  
  
"Master..."  
  
"I'll have to take the chance. It's the only way. There's only one person strong enough to get the two children away from the others..."  
  
"But Master..."  
  
"Quiet! Don't dispute what I say!"  
  
"But Master..." the lowly slave Digimon said as his master stormed out of the room. "He is out there on that mountain..." he told himself softly. "The one she loves."  
  
~*~  
  
"TK!" Matt screamed at the top of his voice as Metalgarurumon took off in a flying leap. The agile Digimon quickly scaled the steep cliff and was almost to the spot where Takeru and Kari were standing. His heart and mind flooded with love and relief - Takeru was safe! "TK!" he called again.  
  
Matt watched as Tai handed Koromon over to Sora and jumped off of Garudamon's back. He ran to Kari and Matt half-smiled as the older brother scooped his little sister up in his arms and twirled her around in the air.  
  
No... There was something off in the distance. Matt couldn't see it, but his instincts told him immediately what was happening, and his heart and chest tightened; he could barely breathe. "TAI!" he screamed desperately.  
  
Tai turned to look at him, but Matt was pointing in the other direction, his hand quivering. Tai spun around and looked in the sky. "No...!" he said softly.  
  
The serpentine Digimon flew from the sky, screaming like a bullet from its gun, and sharply turned, zooming around them. The bluish violet scales of the Dragomon shimmered in the sun, and as it darted through the air between Tai and the kids, a red aura surrounded Takeru and Kari and they were dragged into the air after it."NO! TK!" Matt roared, pushing on Metalgarurumon to climb faster. Tai broke out into a run, and letting out an almost inhuman yell, he hurled himself toward the Digimon and latched onto its tail.  
  
"No, Tai, stop!" Sora called futilely. Matt whirled around to look as the pregnant young woman flew toward Tai, and his heart started to beat rapidly. He turned back to Tai, and winced as the tail of the Digimon slung Tai into one of the rock outcrops with a sickening thud. "_TAI!_" Sora screamed again.  
  
~*~  
  
Izzy's chest tightened as the Dragomon passed him by. It was as if his heart had suddenly turned cold, his soul was blackened by the Dragomon and its rider. Could it be? he thought as Kabuterimon started to fly away from the Digimon and toward Tai and the others, who had gathered around to tend to his injuries.  
  
When they were close enough, Joe leapt from Kabuterimon's back and landed neatly beside Matt, who was standing, looking down at the fallen leader. Izzy, however, could not make himself jump off of the Digimon. Instead, he turned and urged Kabuterimon to pursue the Dragomon.  
  
"Izzy," Kabuterimon argued, "There will be plenty of time for revenge later! Right now we have to help Tai!"  
  
"This isn't revenge, Kabuterimon.... It's Mimi. Fly as fast as you can. I want to catch up to her." He couldn't explain the sudden cold feelings in his heart, but he was fighting back against them. Perhaps there was a connection ...?  
  
Suddenly, Kabuterimon stopped flying and hovered in the air. "Kabuterimon? What's wrong? Why aren't you flying?"  
  
"I can't go any further, Izzy," the large beetle said with anguish. "There's something... holding me back, and I can't get past it."  
  
Izzy's eyes followed as the dark Dragomon and the rider disappeared, carrying Takeru and Kari with them. His heart beat rapidly, and he felt himself clear up, but it was like something had been taken away from him as they changed into a little dot in the sky.  
  
~*~  
  
_The human boy... He felt the cold and evil in his heart for a moment... Is it possible, then, that he could be changed? Perhaps there is more to this love that meets the eye... But there is always the danger that if the boy could be changed, so could the girl... and the feelings in her heart would be lost forever. Even gaining the boy wouldn't be worth losing the girl... They cannot be anywhere near each other... ever again._  
  
~*~  
  
Joe gently moved Sora to the side to he could try to treat Tai's injuries. He didn't seem to be too badly hurt, just knocked unconscious. Sora, however, looked worse. Her face was pale, and pain was obvious in her face even if she didn't want to voice it.  
  
"He's fine," Joe said, kneeling over the young man.  
  
"_Fine_!?" Sora snapped angrily. "How can you say he's fine!? He's just... _laying_ there, almost dead, and all you can say is he's _fine_!?" "Sora," Joe said gently, placing one hand on her shoulder, "calm down. I know what I'm doing... he wasn't badly hurt. I just need to bring him around." He took an herb mixture out of his medical bag and held it under Tai's nose.  
  
After a few seconds, Tai's eyelids fluttered. Sora gasped, and hugged Tai tightly as he sat up. She sat back, and then a look of regret crossed her beautiful features.  
  
"Uh..." Tai said groggily. "Thanks, Joe."  
  
Sora slowly turned toward Joe. "I'm sorry I yelled at you, Joe... I just... I just..."  
  
"I understand," he said quietly. "You don't have to apologize. It was a natural reaction to what was going on." He stood up. "This is not the time to stand around talking," he said authoritatively to everyone. "We have to go find Takeru and Kari and do what needs to be done so we can all go on with our lives, finally."  
  
Izzy slowly walked over to the group, and Kabuterimon was hovering lazily in the air behind him.  
  
Joe looked again at the pained expression on Sora's face, and decided that whatever they did, he would need to keep Sora close in case something should happen to her. "Alright," he continued. "We need to split up to look for Kari and Takeru. Once we get to the fortress, Matt, you and Tai go one way, and Sora, Izzy, and I will go the other."  
  
"No," Sora said firmly. "Where Tai goes, I go."  
  
"And I don't think Tai and I should travel together, seeing as how we're the ones with the Mega Digimon," Matt said. "You come with me, Joe."  
  
"Then I'll go with Tai," Izzy said, looking at Joe icily. _He still hasn't forgiven me for that!?_ "Let's go then!" Tai yelled, jumping up proudly. Joe sighed. He tried to make it so he could keep an eye on Sora, but no one ever listened to him... Tai was the leader.  
  
Matt, almost to reaffirm Joe's thought, nodded and followed Tai's gaze to the castle. "It's time for the counter-attack," he growled. 


	7. Courage, Love, and Sacrifice

Untitled

**Mistakes**  
_by Laura Kamida_  
**Rated PG-13 for Violence and Language**  
  


**Chapter 7 - Courage, Love, and Sacrifice**   
  
"_WING BLADE_!" Two Bakemon went down at the crimson wave of Garudamon's screaming attack. "_METAL WOLF CLAW_!" A Kuwagamon fell from the sky and burst into sparkling dust as Metalgarurumon leapt forward. "_TERRA FORCE_!" Several Vilemon which were dive-bombing the five of them were destroyed by Wargreymon's devastating attack.  
  
Soon enough, all of the guards of Mimi's fortress were eliminated, and the Digidestined had no problem walking into the foreboding stone building. The large, metal door was sealed tightly shut, but Tai and Matt's Mega Digimon broke them down easily.  
  
Within the doors was a creepy-looking interior; dark, black, damp. It seemed as if it was a void that obliterated light. A shiver went up Tai's spine.  
  
"Lead the way, Tai," Matt said, smirking. Tai lifted an eyebrow, but did as Matt said. He took the first step into Mimi's fortress. The Digimon all morphed back into their rookie forms, the fearsome monsters transforming into cute little pets. Tai lifted a torch from one of the holders in the wall, and Agumon lit it up, illuminating the dark room ever-so-slightly. Matt did the same.  
  
Looking around the room, there were two sets of stairs, one leading up and one leading down. The walls, which crawled with spiders, were covered in strange, archaic tapestries depicting a tall, dark, shadowy figure that looked strangely familiar, like they had all seen it in an invasion of a dream.  
  
"This doesn't seem like the decorative theme Mimi would have chosen, does it?" Matt said in a soft voice.  
  
"No," Tai murmured in response. "If she had it her way, everything would be pink." A smile skittered across his lips. He looked toward the downward staircase. "You wanna take the high road and I'll take the low road?"  
  
Matt looked toward the staircase that spiraled up, deeper into the interior of the castle. He nodded, and started to walk that way. Joe reluctantly followed. "Let's meet back here in an hour," he said. "Search thoroughly. TK and Kari are around here somewhere."  
  
~*~  
  
The torch provided a soft light, hardly comforting to the three silent travelers who walked farther and farther down the stairs that lead to the bottom.  
  
"I think they'd be in a dungeon of some sort, right Izzy?" Tai said, trying to break the unnerving silence. Izzy merely nodded, a motion which Tai couldn't see in the dim light. "_Right_!?"  
  
"Oh," Izzy, said, realizing what had happened. "Right. I suppose that theory is valid."  
  
"And in all castles, the dungeon is in the bottom, right? So we have to find them down here!"  
  
"Do you think there are evil Digimon down here?" Sora asked softly.  
  
"Uh... Yeah, I guess... That would make sense," Tai said.  
  
"Then be _quiet_!" she hissed.  
  
~*~  
  
"I wonder if this staircase actually goes anywhere..." Joe said, drifting off, his words seeming to die in the thick silence. It seemed as if they had been climbing for hours, single file, Matt in front, walking, and yet it was always the same, the walls around them, the steps in front of them. "Maybe we'll just walk up through here for all eternity, with the stone all around us, like we're buried alive, just walking... never-ending walking."  
  
There was a short moment of silence.  
  
"... What on Earth made you come up with that?" Matt asked, snickering.  
  
"I'm not sure," Joe replied in an almost light-hearted tone. "I just started thinking that maybe this was some kind of optical illusion, and that if we stayed the way we were going, that we could be climbing forever."  
  
They walked for a few more seconds, then suddenly he bumped into Matt's back. "Hey!" he said. "Why did you stop?"  
  
"You just might be right...!" Matt said, handing the torch to the older man and slapping a fist into his open hand. He turned to the wall and pressed his hands up against it. Suddenly his hands disappeared into the wall. Joe's eyes widened, and Matt smiled with satisfaction. He stepped forward, his arms disappearing, and then his body. He was gone for a moment before his head suddenly reappeared. "Come on! TK and Kari are in here!"  
  
Joe looked, tilting his head to the side slightly. He stepped toward the wall and vanished into it just as Matt had.  
  
_Joe, old buddy_, he thought to himself, _you are a genius._  
  
~*~  
  
Takeru spun around as he heard talking and footsteps. He instinctively held his arms to the side and stepped in front of Kari to protect her. He had gotten his wish, he had the chance to be the protector again, when they were kidnaped by Mimi and her Dragomon, but he had blown it. Not only that, but he had even put Tai in danger, so as they flew away, Kari's mind was branded with the memory of her brother being violently slammed into a sharp rock outcropping.  
  
First they had been captured again by the same red energy that Mimi had captured them with before, and then they had been dragged into a high tower of the castle. There, Mimi hadn't spoken a word to them. She had just walked toward the door and opened it. She had a key in her hand; she intended to lock them in the room.  
  
The strange thing about Mimi was that she looked almost dead. The fatigue was evident in the tired way she walked, and the haggard expression on her face.  
  
"Mimi?" Kari had whispered. Mimi only slightly acknowledged her, turning her head ever-so-slightly and looking distantly, like she was staring right past the two teenagers. "Mimi, why are you doing this?"  
  
Mimi didn't answer right away. She had stood there, staring straight ahead. "It is destiny."  
  
She left the room and locked the door, making it click softly. Kari and Takeru stood in a stunned silence as all they could hear was the soft clacking of Mimi's boots on the stone floor.  
  
That had been a while ago... and Kari and Takeru had barely spoken since. They were both pondering what Mimi could have meant by her simple and puzzling statement... _Destiny..._  
  
"Do you hear that?" Takeru whispered upon hearing voices outside the room.  
  
"I do," she murmured in reply, standing closer to Takeru. He stood in front of her, protectively holding his arms out like he had seen Tai do so many times. She looked toward the wall that was to the far left of the door. "Why would they be coming that way? It's a tower," she continued, her voice low. They saw a pair of hands coming from the wall, and Kari yelped and dodged behind the taller boy.  
  
"Matt!" Takeru called happily as his brother materialized from behind the wall. "How did you get here!?"  
  
"Well," Matt said modestly, "it was Joe's idea, actually." As if a light bulb suddenly went off in his head, he turned around and stuck his head back through the wall. They could hear the same soft, muffled voices they had heard before. Then Joe appeared.  
  
"Joe!" Kari cried, running toward their older friend. "Is Tai okay? Where is he!? Tell me, is he hurt?"  
  
"Calm down, Kari, he's fine," Joe said softly, trying his best to comfort the girl, who was hyperventilating. "He, Sora, and Izzy went down to the bottom half of the fortress to try and find you. We should probably go back down to the front room of the castle to meet him now, right Matt?"  
  
"Uh, yeah," Matt said absent-mindedly.  
  
"I hope there are no evil Digimon down there..." Kari said solemnly. "I hope Tai's OK..."  
  
~*~  
  
"Look..." Tai murmured, pointing his torch forward. "You can see the bottom of the staircase. That means we must be close to Kari and Takeru..."  
  
Sure enough, there was a landing, and then the narrow corridor turned sharply into another, blocking them from seeing any further.  
  
"We're almost there. Then we can save them. Then we'll get the hell outta here..." Tai said, but he was cut off as Sora gasped sharply.  
  
"Oh - Oh!" she uttered, a look of shock covering her features as her hazel eyes widened.  
  
"Sora, quiet!" Izzy hissed, trying to quiet the woman. He spun around to see her, but she abruptly plopped down on the stone staircase. She tried to keep quiet, but her breath was coming rapidly, inhaling and exhaling with fear evident in her expression.  
  
"T-Tai!" she whispered. "I think - I think it's time!"  
  
"Oh, no," Tai mumbled. "Not now..."  
  
"No, no, no, no!" Sora sobbed. "It's not time yet, Tai, it's too early!" Tears started to run down her face. "Joe's supposed to be here when the baby comes," she said weakly. "He's the only one that knows what to do..."  
  
"It'll be alright, Sora," Tai assured her. "I promise, everything will be fine. It's not that early." He went behind her and massaged her shoulders gently. She looked as if she were about to protest again, but he cut her off with a sharp look. "Breathe," he said sternly.  
  
She took deep breaths, loudly panting as sweat started to bead up around her forehead. "Uh... Sora?" Izzy began meekly. "Maybe you should try to be - "  
  
Sora glared at Izzy, and he could almost see fire in her eyes. "_IZZY_," she bellowed, her eyes narrowing. "_BE QUIET._"  
  
"Sora!" Tai said in likeness of a mother scolding her child. "_Breathe_!" She averted her attention back to Tai and did as she was commanded. She breathed heavily and methodically. "Izzy..." Tai began, "I wouldn't be standing there if I were you..."  
  
His reaction was delayed for a moment, but soon enough Izzy realized that he needed to move or he was going to see something that he wasn't quite ready to see yet. He broke into a run, skipping stairs as he clamored to get above Sora on the staircase.  
  
_CRASH!_  
  
"What was that?" Sora gasped, almost breathless, looking down the staircase, trying to determine where the noise came from.  
  
"I don't know," Izzy replied. "I'll go see." He started to walk down the stairs, but was stopped by Tai.  
  
"No, Izzy," he said. "You know if you go down there, there's no way you can defend yourselves against Mimi's Digi-hench-mon. I'll go." He stood up and started to walk down the stairs. "Here," he said, turning back and tossing Izzy a pocketknife.  
  
Izzy looked down at the pocketknife, and then back up at Tai. "What's this for?" he asked, puzzled.  
  
"Besides defending yourself," he explained, "there's one more little thing..." He drifted off, obviously uncomfortable.  
  
Izzy gulped. He looked back at Sora. "You've _got_ to be kidding."  
  
Tai held back a grin as he slapped Izzy on the back, forcing the smaller boy to take a small, involuntary hop forward. "Good luck, Iz!"  
  
"No, Tai! Don't go!" Sora cried. Tai merely shook his head to tell her no, and then descended the stairs to see what had happened.  
  
Izzy paced back and forth, twisting his fingers around in his hair, holding his head in his hands. "What am I supposed to do!? What technique does one impliment in such a situation!?" He took another look back at Sora, who was staring at him with a look of utter impatience. "_I'm 11 years old!!!_"  
  
"Izzy! Sora!" a deep voice called from the staircase.  
  
"Joe!" Izzy called, his voice thick with relief, his shout reverberating, bouncing off the stone walls. "Is that you!?"  
  
"It's me!" Joe replied. His feet were thumping against the rock of the staircase, and he was obviously running to aid Sora and Izzy.  
  
"Thank God," Sora sighed. "I'm so glad you came, Joe!"  
  
"Ditto for me," Izzy mumbled, pocketing the knife Tai gave him.  
  
Joe scooted into position a couple steps below Sora. "This should go quickly," he said reassuringly. "Now breathe, just like the last time." Sora nodded, a smile creeping over her haggard face. She bit her lip to quiet herself and wiped the sweat from her brow with the hand she wasn't supporting herself with. Izzy turned away, embarrassed, determined not to watch what transpired. _That's why you're the computer genius, Izzy,_ he told himself. _Computers do NOT give birth._ After what seemed like forever, Izzy could hear the faint cry of the new baby. He turned around as Joe was pulling his shirt off. The "doctor" of Odaiba wrapped the baby girl up in his shirt and handed the writhing bundle to Sora, who took it and cradled it gently to her chest with obvious maternal instinct. Tears of joy ran from her eyes as she kissed the tiny human's head. "Rose," she whispered.  
  
"Rose?" Joe echoed.  
  
"Rose," she said, nodding. "Tai and I have been thinking of this for a long time... and we decided to name her Rose if she was a girl. Izzy walked behind Sora to look at the red, squirming, crying child. Sora smiled weakly. "And to think, Izzy, you didn't want to deliver her..."  
  
"Uh..." Izzy stammered, blushing. "I just... didn't... uh, know what procedure to utilize to deliver a baby..."  
  
Suddenly they heard a man's scream. Tai.  
  
"Tai - !" Sora tried to scream, but Izzy clapped his hand over her mouth. There was a pause, and then there was another scream. This one was feminine. It was not scared, or hurt, but triumphant, a kind of war cry that sent shivers up Izzy's spine and made the hair on his neck stand straight up.  
  
There were footsteps, and they were all frozen in shock and fear as the click-clack of boots became louder and louder... Suddenly, around the corner that Tai had turned not ten minutes before, came the stunning -  
  
"Mimi!" Sora breathed.  
  
It was the first time Izzy had seen her up close in what had seemed like an eternity... He had not seen her since that fateful day in front of the portal. They had held hands, and Mimi had looked at him. He had even thought that she winked at him... but then deduced seconds later that she probably had something in her eye.  
  
He stared at this new Mimi, his mouth gaping wide open. She had changed so much since he had seen her before. Her eyes were dark, the brown cold as ice and dark circles surrounding them. Her lips were pert, and blood red. Her light brown hair was long, and hung halfway down her back, brushed down perfectly. She was taller than before, and thinner. Her body was lanky and she looked almost emaciated. Hardly anyone that looked like they were a threat... She looked more like someone that should be rushed to the hospital. She had traded in her innocent pink for a slinky red skirt and cropped off top. _Red_, he thought, _the color of evil._  
  
So it really was true. His Mimi, the Mimi he had fallen in love with so long ago, was really evil. She was really evil, no matter how much he tried to deny it.  
  
"Izzy!" she gasped upon seeing him. "You're alive! How - how can this be!?"  
  
"Mimi..." he said softly, taking in her appearance and taking a few steps toward her. She looked distracted, staring at him, and yet her eyes looking distant, as if she were staring off into space, right through him. _Look at me,_ he silently commanded her. _LOOK AT ME!_ He heard a shuffling behind him. Good, he thought. Joe was taking the opportunity that Izzy was trying to give him to take Sora and Rose and get out of Mimi's path. Rose, however, let out a shrill cry, and both of the males cringed as Sora tried to quiet the screaming child. Izzy stole a quick glance to see Joe slowly walking up the stairs, carrying Sora in his arms.  
  
Izzy looked back at Mimi. Her eyes darted toward Joe and Sora, and she watched them intently, seeing them struggle to get up the stairs. The cold brown eyes narrowed in anger, and the very corners her lips turned up to reveal a smug, savage grin.  
  
"_FIRE BLAST_!" she shrieked, an orb of fire accumulating in her hands. Joe chanced a glance back to look at the woman who was aiming her shot.  
  
"RUN!" Izzy suddenly bellowed. Mimi's eyes averted to him for a split second, and Joe took off into a dead sprint up the stairs. Mimi looked confused for a split second, and Izzy took the chance to leap at her.  
  
He backed her up against the wall, holding her there by pressing his forearm up against her neck. "You've changed a lot, Mimi," he said ruefully. He could feel the urge to be cruel, cold, and evil creeping up inside of him, and suddenly he just wanted to push on his arm, to crush her neck, to squeeze the life out of her. But he fought back against it, his inner turmoil and changing emotions perplexing him. He secretly wondered why Mimi didn't just use her firepower on him.  
  
Mimi didn't speak, couldn't speak perhaps, but her eyes told him everything he needed to know. Eyes that he had to look even higher to see than before... These eyes were cold intermixed with warm, darkness blended with light. She only stared at him, and Izzy could swear that for a moment he saw the old Mimi, the good Mimi, staring at him through those eyes. Her face weakened slightly, as if she were letting down walls, and Izzy could feel his heart beating faster - was this it?  
  
But just as suddenly as he had seen the old Mimi appear, she stiffened her arms and shoved him away, storming angrily up the stairs without a word after Joe and Sora and anyone else that was unlucky enough to get in her way.  
  
Izzy's lower lip quivered, and he bit it to keep from crying. He turned the opposite direction and began to walk. He had to get away from Mimi and the memory of cold, dark eyes that was imprinted in his mind, and he had to find Tai.  
  
He turned the corner where they had heard Tai scream. He expected to see Tai laying there, maybe injured, maybe unconscious; he didn't know how Tai would look, but he at least expected him to be there. There was nothing. There was no evidence that anything had happened... At Izzy's first glance. His mind was racing... Maybe Tai really is dead... none of us have ever really died here, maybe our bodies would disintegrate like the Digimon? Please, please, let him be okay, please -  
  
His train of thought was immediately cut off as he saw something faintly glowing on the floor. He leaned down to pick it up, his heart breaking as he realized that it was the Crest of Courage.  
  
He held it in his hand, the Crest's glow weakening and finally dissipating in his palm. He saw one s ingle, solitary crack running deeply down the center, marring the symbolical sun that was held within. He looked to the wall and saw a splatter of blood.  
  
"No..." he murmured. "No, not Tai." He inhaled deeply, finally letting his emotions getting the better of him. "TAI!" he sobbed, falling to his knees and pounding the ground in frustration.  
  
It was a good ten minutes before Izzy finally sat back up and looked at the Tag and Crest again. He thought about it for a solemn, silent moment, and then slipped the amulet over his neck and tucked the simple device into his shirt where the Tag and Crest of Knowledge was held.  
  
Wiping the tears from his eyes, he turned back the way he came and started up the stairs. He sighed deeply. It was going to be hard to tell the rest of them... But it was something he had to do...  
  
Because it was all his fault Tai was dead in the first place.  
  
~*~  
  
"I lost them, my master. I'm sorry."  
  
"As well you should be." The dark figure clenched its fist and snarled angrily. "Fail me again, and you will face the dire consequences. Do you understand?"  
  
"Yes, my master." Suddenly the eyes opened wide. "Wait! Wait! _You_!!! _No_!!! You're the one -!!"  
  
"Sleep... Sleep my slave... and listen to my words."  
  
"Yessss.... My Massterrr..."  
  
"You will hunt the remaining Digidestined. And you will kill them."  
  
"But... - "  
  
"You will _OBEY ME_!" the voice roared. "Now sleep..." it said, soothing and calm again, purring like a cat. "Sleep, my slave. Now listen to my command."  
  
"Yessss... My Massterrr..."  
  
"You will kill them."  
  
"Yessss... My Massterrr... Kill them."  
  
~*~  
  
"Joe..." Izzy said softly, approaching the group of six: Joe, who was standing next to Sora, who was holding the newborn Rose, and Matt, who was holding Sora, helping her maintain her balance while she was weakened. Takeru and Kari were standing together, Takeru trying to comfort Kari, who was hyperventilating again. Sora was staring at her baby, but immediately took notice as Izzy came forward.  
  
Joe rushed over to Izzy. "Yeah, Iz?"  
  
His face was cold, and serious. "I... I... I found Tai," he stammered. "And... there's something we have to tell Sora and Kari... It's about Tai..." he drifted off, fearing that if he uttered another word, he would begin to cry just as he had before.  
  
"No..." Joe said, his face becoming distant. "They - they'll be devastated." But they both knew the truth: everyone was going to be devastated. To lose Tai was to lose a leader, a soulmate. "I should tell them," he said firmly. "It's the only decent thing to do."  
  
He turned back around to the four pairs of anxious eyes staring at him. "Uh..." he began, "Izzy found Tai."  
  
"Where!?" Kari screeched. "Where is he!?" she ran over to Izzy, grabbing him by the collar and violently shaking him. "Where is he, Izzy!?" She looked back and forth between the solemn faces of Izzy and Joe, and took a weak step backward.  
  
"No..." Sora whispered, her throat going suddenly dry. Kari fell back, and Takeru caught her in his arms, and tried to support her weight. "Oh my God..." Sora breathed, tears thick in her voice. Her eyes were shining with them, and they pooled under her eyes, as if she refused to cry them. She took deep breaths, each coming out as a suspended, dry sob. Finally she began to howl with sobs, and Matt held her close, letting her cry on his shoulder.  
  
"T - Tai..." Kari stuttered. "Oh, Tai... oh, my brother..." Her tears were running down her face, and she turned, falling forward and burying her face in Takeru's chest. Takeru, unsure of what to do, just held the sobbing girl close and stroked her back, trying to comfort her. He looked to Matt, who immediately averted his eyes. Takeru, confused, looked back down at Kari, his own eyes brimming with tears, and hid his face in Kari's thick, long hair.  
  
"Kari," Izzy said softly. "I - I have something that I think you should have." He removed the Tag and Crest from around his neck and handed the pendant over to the sobbing teenager. "I - I found it... and I think that you should have it." Sora's reddened eyes slowly followed as the necklace that Tai never removed exchanged hands.  
  
_It's true then_... she thought, her tears renewing themselves and sending her into another fit of sobs. _It's really true... My Tai is........ NOOOOOOO_!!!!!!!!! Kari looked closely at the amulet, and suddenly gasped sharply. "The crack!" she said hoarsely. "The crack! ... Just like my dream," she bawled.  
  
"Now, Kari, there was no way you could have prevented this," Takeru responded.  
  
"It's all _my fault_!" she cried. "_I knew this was going to happen - I should have stopped it, Takeru!_" "You can't blame yourself for this, Kari... You can't tell yourself that if you had done something different, Tai would still be alive," Izzy assured her.  
  
"She can't..." Joe murmured, "but you can?"  
  
~*~  
  
"I need to tighten my hold on the power, Serimon. Even if it takes all of my energy I cannot let this victory go, I cannot let the Digidestined win."  
  
"Right, Master, but what will you do?"  
  
"Too weak. She's just... too weak to be any use to me now. And yet, her spirit keeps her alive... I must transfer my energy to her for her to do my bidding."  
  
"B - but Master!!! You are weak as well!"  
  
"As soon as the Digidestined have been completely destroyed, I will have no opposition. I will have plenty of time to rejuvenate and recover my energy. Now, bring her to me."  
  
"Yes, master," Serimon said with total servility and a hint of regret.  
  
~*~  
  
"We need to split up..." Matt said softly after a long silence. "Izzy, you should take Sora somewhere where you're sure she'll be safe while we fight Mimi." Joe nodded in agreement. "TK, you take Kari somewhere and save up your strength - you'll need it... Joe, you and I should go look for the Digimon."  
  
Joe nodded again. "That sounds like a good plan, Matt," he agreed.  
  
Sora lifted her eyes to meet Joe's. "I can fight her," she snarled. "I want to fight her. I have to avenge Tai."  
  
"You can't," Joe said, a firm tone almost like a father taking over his voice. "No one should do heavy physical activity directly after giving birth and while they're under emotional stress as well. Besides, it wouldn't be smart to bring Rose into this fight. You saw how Mimi looked at her. She doesn't want that child to live. It's better for you just to keep out of the way and keep safe while you tend to Rose."  
  
Sora's face fell and she reluctantly nodded. "I guess," she said, her voice thick with tears. "Come on Izzy..." she said, walking over to him.  
  
"Let's go, Joe," Matt said, starting to walk in the opposite direction. "TK, you take care of her," he commanded. Takeru nodded solemnly, and he and Kari started off in a different direction. "Everyone meet here as soon as possible."  
  
"Come this way," Izzy told Sora. "I think you should stay in the dungeons where T - Takeru and Kari were thought to be." He had almost said "the dungeons where Tai was taking us..." but he thought better of it at just the right moment. He looked at Sora. With the condition she was in and the expression on her face, she never would have noticed the slip up anyway. She only silently followed, her mind barely in the present at all.  
  
They went down the silent stairs just as they had gone before. When they reached the bottom, Izzy turned the corner. He looked at Sora wearily, but she didn't seem to see the bloody evidence on the floor of Tai's demise. He continued the way they would have gone... Had things not happened the way they did, and walking slowly down the dark corridor they came across a small-looking room.  
  
Izzy cautiously opened the door and looked inside. He was right in one respect; it had once been a small room, but the side wall, which connected it to another cell, was blown out, obviously by fire due to the charred remains, leaving a huge room. Also, the back wall looked as if it had been blown out, but built back up quickly, and messily. The room was pretty dark, but lit up by a scant amount of torches around the walls, as well as lit from torches in the hallway outside.  
  
"Now, Sora," he said weakly. "You - you should stay here." He turned around to look at her, and she looked up at him. The expression her swelled hazel eyes held was heartbreaking, and Izzy just wanted to hold his dear friend close and do anything possible to make her feel better. She didn't pay any attention to his concern however, only walking slowly into the room and sitting on the ground, holding Rose close and kissing the baby's forehead, almost as if she were trying to show affection for Tai as well as the child. "Now... Stay here," he repeated lamely.  
  
"I will," she whispered monotonously, staring forward.  
  
"Sora..." he said, a hint of desperation in his voice, an uncertainty of what to do.  
  
She looked at him, quiet determination in her eyes. "Go, Izzy. Just go," she commanded him, the dull tone of shock still evident in her voice. "Go and avenge Tai for me. I'd like to do it myself, I'd like to just wrap my hands around her neck and - " she cut herself off, obviously imagining what it would be like to kill her former friend. "...But I have to think of Rose," she continued, after a long pause. "Go."  
  
Izzy nodded gravely and turned away from her, running back up the stairs. In his hurry and distraction, he did not notice the shadowy figure standing, pressed up against the stone wall of the damp stairway, hidden from view. But it noted him, noted that he was gone, and approached the room where the young woman was sitting, holding a sleeping child.  
  
The figure's gloved hand ran along the rough doorway that led to the room where she sat. Its water blue eyes stared longingly at the girl who's beauty had blossomed so much. Her face was moistened, glistening with tears... and one lonely tear traced its way through the dirt on his face... His love was true... Her love was true... Just not for him. But oh! - how he wanted her at that moment. How he wanted to tell her that everything would be alright now that he was here for her. How he wanted her body, her soul, her spirit, her tears, and her heart.  
  
_ When the rain is blowing in your face,  
And the whole world is on your case,  
I would offer you a warm embrace,  
To make you feel my love...  
  
When evening shadows and the stars appear,  
And there is no one to dry your tears,  
I could hold you for a million years,  
To make you feel my love...  
  
I know you haven't made your mind up yet,  
But I would never do you wrong...  
I've known it from the moment that we met,  
No doubt in my mind where you belong...  
  
I'd go hungry, I'd go blind for you,  
I'd go crawling down the avenue,  
There ain't nothing that I wouldn't do,  
To make you feel my love...  
  
Storms are raging on a rolling sea,  
Down the highway of regret...  
The winds of change are blowing wild and free,  
But you ain't seen nothing like me yet...  
  
There ain't nothing that I wouldn't do,  
Go to the ends of the earth for you,  
Make you happy, make your dreams come true,  
To make you feel my love...   
  
_ His heart ached, and he clenched his fists together, wanting to tell her so badly how much he cared for her.  
  
He would do it. He had to, or else he would explode. He inhaled deeply. It had to be done, no matter what the consequences. His heart wouldn't allow him to keep it a secret any longer.  
  
He took two long strides into the room and looked at Sora: her long auburn hair hanging around her, and she turned her head to see him, her eyes sparkling beautifully with tears.  
  
She stared at him, the contours of his body contrasting against the torch light that was streaming in from the hallway. He was shrouded in shadows because he was backlit; his features were obscured by the darkness, but she could tell that familiar figure, that familiar stance, and even the presence in the air, anywhere.  
  
"Matt..." she whispered. 


	8. Guilt... and Innocence

"Mistakes"

**Mistakes**  
_by Laura Kamida_  
**Rated PG-13 for Violence and Language**  
  


**Chapter 8 - Guilt... and Innocence**   
  
The young boy with fiery red hair charged up the staircase at full speed, tears obstructing his vision, his chest tightening into thick, heavy breaths as his feet rhythmically pounded the stone of the o ld-fashioned fortress.  
  
His guilt made his heart feel cold inside. Tai was dead because of him... Mimi was evil... Takeru and Kari had been through hell, and he had caused his friends to be stranded in a foreign world for six years... The thought of it was staggering. He had ruined the lives of seven people... and there was nothing he could do about it now but wish that he hadn't ruined everything with one simple program, one deadly portal.  
  
There is one way I can make some amends for what I did, Izzy thought to himself. _I can bring Mimi back... I'm sure that I can do it. I see it in her eyes when I'm near her... She wants to come back to good... She just doesn't know how, she can't es... cape... ...._  
  
Escape... Why did that cross his mind? ... It wasn't like there was someone holding her prisoner... and making her... do these terrible things... Was there?  
  
Izzy reached the large, dark room where the six of them had separated before, and stopped to take a few, heavy breaths, and to contemplate his new half-theory... No one could _make_ someone do such things... and to her friends, besides... It was impossible...  
  
He spied another set of stairs, and found himself marveling at the complexities that lay within the architecture. _Hmph, all stereotypical evil monarchs have large, dark, intricate castles, don't you know that Izzy?_  
  
He had nothing better to do, so he started for the stairs.  
  
_Please let me able to save her... I know I can't make everything right... But please let me fix just this one thing..._  
  
~*~  
  
Matt looked down at Sora, whose eyes were reddened with tears, which left trails on her fatigued face, and he immediately wanted to hold her in his arms and whisper to her that everything would be okay. "Oh, Sora..." he breathed. "I'm so sorry, about - "  
  
" - Don't." she said, cutting him off. She averted her eyes to the other side of the room. "Please, don't."  
  
He walked slowly over to her and knelt down to her, resisting every urge to pull her close to him. As if his very presence had reminded her of Tai, she began to sob again. Quickly, he pulled her into a tight embrace and she wept unabashedly. He rocked her gently back and forth, listening to her soft cries, listening to her heart beating. He didn't want to hurt her, not at all, but he needed her. When she pulled away, he didn't try to hold her close, but instead let her sit back away from him. Her tear-stained face was shining in the moonlight.  
  
He tenderly caressed her face, lightly wiping the tears from her cheeks. She looked at him with an expression of gratitude for the comfort that he was giving her. He leaned forward, his cheek brushing up against hers. He could feel her warm breath against his neck, and it sent a shiver up his spine. His lips brushed against her cheek, and they made their way to her mouth, where he kissed her.  
  
At first it was soft, affectionate, but as his desire burned within him, he pulled her close to him and held her tightly, kissing her passionately.  
  
He felt a twinge of betrayal deep inside of him. It snaked its way up his body, and he almost pulled away from her. He had betrayed Tai. His dead friend. Even though they had not always seen eye to eye, Tai had trusted Matt. And now, not hours after his death... Matt was betraying Sora. Betraying her vulnerability. She was helpless, saddened, and Matt had advanced on her in this state.  
  
Or was he the one, in fact, being betrayed? Betrayed by his heart, by his feelings, by the very inability to push her out of his mind even though he was hurting her and his friend?  
  
"No," she murmured. "Don't." She pulled away and turned her head so his face was buried in her thick, auburn hair.  
  
"Sora," he whispered, still holding her loosely. "I love you."  
  
"Matt, I -- we... can't do this. I love Tai..."  
  
Matt pulled away from her and turned her head so she was facing him. "Sora, Tai is dead."  
  
Sora slapped his face. He stared at her with a quiet sadness for a moment and she put her hand to his face. She looked slightly remorseful for what she did. "I don't care. I still love him and I will always love him."  
  
"But I love _you_," Matt insisted, tears creeping into his voice. "I've always loved you, Sora. And always it's been Tai..." he drifted off. His heart ached to tell her that every time her gentle golden voice caressed his ears, or every time she gracefully tossed her soft auburn tresses over her shoulders, or every time her beautiful, loving, lively eyes met his own, he knew that there would never be anyone else he would be so devoted to.  
  
He looked into her eyes once again, and realized that her heart ached too. She loved him, in her own friendly way, but she loved Tai more. And he realized, no matter how much he hurt because of her, her heart didn't care. Her heart wouldn't love him just because Tai was dead.  
  
"I -- I'm sorry, Sora," he gasped, standing up. "I -- I went crazy for a second. I love you... I don't want to hurt you. I wish I had never done that."  
  
Sora looked into his troubled eyes. "I understand," she said. "I forgive you."  
  
"It's too soon for you to forget Tai... I should have never done what I did."  
  
"I don't _want_ to forget Tai," she said, bristling.  
  
"I'm sorry, again, I'm sorry." He shook his head frantically. "I know you don't want to forget Tai. None of us do. That's really, really not what I meant. I'm sorry. I'm very very sorry." he had hurt her. He could see it in her eyes. It was wrong for him to come here. He had made the wrong move... again.  
  
She would always love Tai. He would always only be runner up to her. He would always only be second best, what she settled for because she couldn't have Tai. He turned from her and walked out, not letting her witness the burning tears brimming over his blue eyes. "Only second best," he whispered, too quietly to be heard, his throat too dry to speak.  
  
"Matt?" Sora whispered. But it was too late. He had already walked out. Sora felt regret for what she had done. She didn't want him -- but it was almost like she had been cruel to him... he loved her, and she threw her love for Tai back up in his face.  
  
Matt sprinted up the stairs, trying to outrun the pain, but it caught him and dragged him down. He should have known better. Sora couldn't love him. She loved Tai. She always would love Tai. He would never find his heart's true desire because... _Stuck,_ he thought bitterly. _In this damn digital world._ He had to lock up his love for so long and now that it could finally matter, now that there was nothing standing in the way for him to have the only woman he had ever wanted --  
  
There was a ghost in his way.  
  
His mind flooded with pain. _She loves Tai. I'm only second best. Only second best. Only second best. Only second best. Only second best. Second best. Second best. Second best. Second best. Second. Second. Second. Always... only second best._ The words rolled around in his mind until they stopped being words. Only images in his deep pain. Only Sora, always in Tai's arms, always holding her baby, and always Matt, standing by helplessly, watching them happy while all he was... was alone. Her smile... Tai's smile... Matt's tears, all blurred in his mind in a dull white. A bright light. Coldness. Lights. Shadows. Pain. Burning. Wanting. Love. Hate.  
  
_SECOND BEST._  
  
Pain again. Physical pain now. He had fallen on the stairs. He pounded furiously on them. Salty blood came from his lip, where he had hit the cold, hard stone of the steps, and hot, salty tears fell from his eyes. The only sound he could hear was his suspended, hard breaths, and his heart beating rapidly. He could not even hear the soft footsteps of someone coming up the stairs to see him... Someone he didn't even know he had passed in his frantic run up the staircase.  
  
"Matt," a soft voice said sadly, and Matt slowly lifted his face to meet two eyes, soulful, and disappointed in him. "Matt..." he repeated, the male voice cracking. "How could you?"  
  
~*~  
  
Izzy walked, and walked, and walked up the stairs, until he finally reached a large wooden door... What could be behind the door? Izzy wasn't sure. He stupidly didn't stop to consider who or what was in there and immediately tried to open it. To his dismay, the huge door was locked, and shut tightly... if Mimi was in there, he wasn't going to get to her without a little help.  
  
He held his Digivice tight in his hand and whispered for his Digimon. "Tentomon... Tentomon...!"  
  
Suddenly Kabuterimon glided up the stairs behind him and landed next to him. "What is it, Izzy?"  
  
"Break down this - " Izzy began, then heard a voice speaking from within the room. "Wait!" he hissed, pressing his cheek against the door to listen.  
  
"Help me Serimon..." a voice said hoarsely. "I don't think I can stand..."  
  
"I told you, my master," the Digimon scolded softly, and in a weak, simpering voice at the same time. "I told you not to give all your power away... To such an undependable recipient, at that - "  
  
There was the cold hard crack of someone slapping someone else. A whimper. "Now, Serimon. Let us fly. I'm afraid of being discovered... and I know the Digimistress can handle anything anyone throws at her now."  
  
Izzy blinked. "Digimistress?" he repeated softly. He could hear the sound of the wind briskly blowing, a soft howl that echoed around the room that was behind the large wooden door. He shook his head to clear his thoughts, then turned to Kabuterimon. "I'm not sure what's going on... But I'm going to find out," he declared.  
  
~*~  
  
The dark-haired young man walked through the quiet, foreboding halls, afraid to put his hands along the walls, yet afraid to walk unaided, unsupported. _What am I doing here?_ he thought to himself, too scared to utter the words aloud._ I think I'm allergic to - Stop it, Joe. You stopped doing that a long time ago, remember?_ His mind flashed back to a time when he was afraid that he would never be happy...  
  
_~~FLASH BACK...~~_  
  
Joe breathed in deeply, over and over again, almost to the point of making himself dizzy with hyperventilation. He was so nervous... Mimi was everything he had ever wanted in a girl, and everything he had thought he could never have because she was so perfect and so popular and so beautiful... and he was just a geek, a clumsy kid with glasses and allergies and fears... of everything.  
  
"She thinks you're cute!" Sora had said sweetly. She had caught Joe blushing over Mimi and guessed correctly that he had a crush on her. "You should definately go for her!" She had genuine earnest in her voice... and someone as sweet as Sora would never, ever lie about something like that. Not matters of the heart. Not when her Crest was Love!  
  
So now, in the dark of the evening, with the dim light of a small candle lighting Joe's hut up, he straightened his hair and tried to make himself perfect. He looked outside, and he the four of them sitting around a big campfire in the middle of Odaiba: Tai, with his arms around Sora lovingly, and Mimi and Matt just sitting by each other. "This is a good sign, Joe my man," he told himself. _Obviously_ they didn't care about each other at all if even the pressure of such a perfect couple with them didn't make them cuddle up together like a couple themselves.  
  
He adjusted his shirt and walked out of his hut. Sora saw him and she tried to contain her excitement. Joe made a sign for her to keep quiet, and Tai was too enthralled with Matt and Mimi's conversation to see him. He looked at the small pink flowers that he had picked for her earlier, then saw one that was a little wilty and snatched it out of the bouquet, tossing it aside. _Perfect!_  
  
_OK, OK, we can do this, Joe. We're_... .... He frowned. _WE? I'm going crazy here! I am going to tap her on the shoulder and say "Mimi, can I talk to you for a second in private?"... and she's going to say -_  
  
"And Joe, who could believe him today! 'I don't think anyone should go anywhere during the day. It's too _daaaangerous..._' Hah!" Mimi said, making her voice nasally and even more high-pitched than usual. Joe stopped dead in his tracks. "My name is _Joe_ and I'm a wussy and I'm _allergic_ to having fun! ... blah blah blah blah _blaaaah_, and I - "  
  
"Mimi, _STOP_!" Sora finally cried desperately, her eyes looking straight into Joe's, which where tearing up, although he tried to fight back the emotion that was springing up inside of him. Mimi spun around, looking at Joe, just as the other three were.  
  
"Oh, oh my gosh... Joe! I'm... I'm so sorry! I didn't mean - "  
  
"Stop, Mimi... It's OK... I don't mind." He stumbled over the words that he uttered next. "Y-you of all people wouldn't... wouldn't lie about something like that, being Sincere, and everything... S-so it must be true..." His bottom lip trembled as he wiped his hands across his eyes roughly, and flung the flowers. All five pairs of eyes stared as they landed in the fire, the delicate petals and stems curling as they burned, lifting the scent of the charred perfume to their noses. When they turned back to Joe, he was gone, running full speed toward the woods on the edge of the town.  
  
He ran and ran until his lungs burned and he felt he couldn't go another step, but he kept running anyway. Finally, he was brought to a stop as he tripped over a tree root and went sprawling. He landed on the ground, the solidity knocking the wind out of him, and sending his glasses flying.  
  
He lay in the dark, panting for the air that just wouldn't come, feeling as if he were going to pass out, when he heard a voice, calling for him. "Joe! Joe...! Joe, where are you?"  
  
He puffed, trying to breathe out the words that just wouldn't come. "G - G - Go..."  
  
The little seal-looking Digimon patted Joe on the back, trying to comfort him. "It's OK, Joe... You don't have to say anything..." Gomamon took a few steps forward and picked up Joe's glasses, trying to hand them to him... But he just ended up placing them on his face.  
  
"Thank you, Gomamon," Joe finally breathed.  
  
Gomamon grinned, looking happy just for the knowledge that he made Joe feel a little better. His face softened as he saw the still distressed look on his companion's face. "... I guess y'don't think Mimi is so charming anymore, huh Joe...?"  
  
Joe shook his head slowly. "It's not like that, Gomamon... I finally get it... If I want Mimi to like me, I have to change myself. I have to be better for her, Gomamon... I have to get over everything that's been making me the laughingstock of the Digidestined for so long... I'm going to be strong now, Gomamon. I'm going to be strong, and tough, and brave, and muscular... and I'm never going to ever be allergic to anything ever again. _Never_! You understand?"  
  
Gomamon looked at Joe sadly. "I guess so..." He looked more disappointed than happy for his friend's new-found determination. But Joe didn't seem to notice; he was too proud of himself for finally getting over his stumbling block.  
  
"I promise you I'm never going to be the same Joe Kido again!" he said, grinning.  
  
Gomamon could only muster a nod.  
  
_~~END OF FLASH BACK...~~_  
  
A set of claws grasped his foot, and Joe jumped a foot in the air, spinning around, trying not to gasp, afraid that at any of the flunkies that Mimi had were ready to spring on him. "Joe? Are you looking for us?" A small voice asked.  
  
Joe sighed with relief and kneeled down to pat the little mohawked Digimon on the head. "Gomamon..." he said simply. "Yes, I was."  
  
"Did I scare ya!?" Gomamon asked, his normal hyperactivity seeping through.  
  
"Not at all," Joe said.  
  
"Liar."  
  
"Dreamer."  
  
Gomamon sniffled. Joe poked him playfully in the shoulder. "What's wrong, little guy?"  
  
"Why did you have to change for her!?" Gomamon cried, his eyes welling up with tears. "The old Joe would have never said that he wasn't scared. The old Joe would have been scared, and would have taken it in stride with a normal Joe comment." Joe tried to speak, but Gomamon cut him off by continuing. "I don't know what it is about you humans that makes you think that you aren't good enough for someone else and makes you think you have to change. I don't know about Mimi, but I like the old Joe a lot better. He was more secure, funnier, and a lot better as a person than the new Joe will ever be..." he broke off into sobs.  
  
"G-Gomamon.... I had no idea..."  
  
"You should just let Izzy _have_ her," Gomamon spat. "The old Joe Kido is too good for her anyway." Joe's eyes widened and he couldn't help but turn away from the Digimon.  
  
~*~  
  
Matt's blue eyes widened with fear and the shock of being caught red-handed, by him, no less.  
  
The clear, defined eyes stared at him, bearing into his own reddened, tear-stained eyes, tearing through all the defenses that he was desperately trying to put back up.  
  
"Matt... How could you..." the voice repeated, a little softer this time.  
  
Matt turned back over to look at the ground. "I don't have to explain myself to you," he spat.  
  
"The hell you don't!" Takeru roared, grabbing the loose fabric from Matt's shoulder and slinging him back over roughly. Matt looked up at him incredulously, snatching his little brother's hand from the shirt. Takeru only stared down at him, throwing him daggers through his clear blue eyes. "Matt, how could you do something like that!?"  
  
"Like what," Matt growled, standing up. "I wasn't doing anything," he lied.  
  
"Bull. I saw you Matt. You - you..." he shuddered violently. "A-and he just died!" Takeru took a step away from him, as if he were totally revolted by the whole idea.  
  
"You just don't understand," Matt said coldly. "I love her."  
  
"No, you don't! It doesn't happen like that," Takeru said mysteriously. "It never does. They never - " he cut himself off, turning around.  
  
"Yeah, I guess you would know about that, wouldn't you? I didn't think you'd know. I never thought you'd find out, and I didn't want you to either. But I guess you know that Mom and ... your father weren't in love." Before he could stop himself, he spilled the final blow with such emotion that tears started to run from his eyes again: "And you know that you're not my real brother............ and that it's all your fault that Mom and my dad split up.... _It's all your fault_!"  
  
Takeru's eyes widened, and he staggered backward, finally bracing himself on a wall. Matt covered his mouth, appalled that he had accused Takeru, his little brother, his little TK, of splitting up his parents... It wasn't his fault, no matter what little childish selfish thought Matt had harbored in his heart... he loved TK more than anything, would do anything to protect him... and yet he had delivered the shot to the heart himself with those terrible words.  
  
"I-I'm sorry, TK, I didn't mean..."  
  
He was stopped as Takeru let out an almost unhuman roar and charged at him, throwing his fist out and socking Matt in the jaw. He stood there, breathing in and out heavily, staring at his older brother, who held his cheek protectively.  
  
"TK..." Matt said, laboring to utter the two simple letters. "I'm sorry for what I said. Let's not get into a fight over this now."  
  
But Takeru would have none of it. "_HOW COULD YOU_!?" he screamed again, leaping forward, his shoulder ramming into Matt's stomach. As he slammed against the stone steps, he was eerily reminded of Tai and the fights that the two of them used to have when they were younger.  
  
He slammed against the cold rock and it knocked the wind out of him. He pushed Takeru's shoulders to shove him off without hurting him, but it was impossible. Takeru was so enraged, so determined to give Matt a beating that he wouldn't be moved.  
  
Finally Matt punched him in the face. He fell backward, holding his face, a tear falling from the eye that Matt had hit. Matt stood up slowly, walked to his little brother, and took his hand, helping him to stand and hugging him tightly.  
  
"I'm sorry Matt..." he said, choking on the words. Matt could only nod and put his hand on Takeru's head as a father would hold his son when he was crying.  
  
As the two men stood, they did not see a shadowy figure sneak off in another direction many steps down, trying to avoid their gaze... trying to escape so they could exact their revenge.  
  
~*~  
  
The young girl plodded up the stairs slowly. Tears clouded her eyes, and she wasn't quite sure where she was going anymore. She didn't care. A part of herself told her to hide, to get away from the open, just in case Mimi was around, but another part of her didn't care.  
  
"_COME AND GET ME_!!" she shrieked. "_COME AND KILL ME, MIMI, JUST LIKE YOU KILLED MY BROTHER_!" No answer. She expected Takeru to grab her and quiet her, but when she turned around, Takeru was gone. Her face fell a little, but she continued to shout. "_COME ON, MIMI!! COME ON, YOU STUPID, COWARDLY, BROTHER-KILLING BITCH!_"  
  
A hand landed on her shoulder. Kari spun around, and gasped, face to face with Mimi.  
  
"M-Mimi!" she stammered. Her face contorted into a look of pure fury as she stared at the young woman who stood in front of her. She looked more closely, noting that Mimi didn't look quite as pale anymore, didn't look quite as emaciated as before. Still, Mimi was Mimi and she had to pay for what she did.  
  
Kari reared back and slapped Mimi across the face. Mimi turned back to her and as she was about to punch her, she grabbed Kari's fist. Kari's face twisted in pain and surprise as Mimi's surprisingly strong grip turned her fist to the side, stretching it painfully, then finally flinging it free. Had Kari not been stronger, the force of the throw would have tossed her aside. Seeing that her mission was not complete, Mimi drew her fingers into a fist and threw a punch that hit Kari flat in the mouth. Kari stumbled back in surprise, tripping on a step and falling on her bottom.  
  
Kari sat on the cold, stone floor, holding her bleeding lip, and looking up at Mimi incredulously. Mimi started to walk away, and Kari called after her. "Mimi???" ... Silence. Mimi ignored her. "_Mimi_." Still nothing. Kari stood up indignantly. "MIMI!" she said, more forcefully. "What the hell happened to you?"  
  
Mimi still ignored her, and Kari's anger flamed dangerously. Finally, she took a running leap and tackled the young woman, turning her over on her back and sitting on her stomach. She reared back her fist and hit her in the mouth.  
  
Mimi's eyes flashed a bright red. "_BLOOD RAGE_!" she screamed, and Kari's eyes widened to the size of saucers as Mimi's hands lit on fire. Mimi thrust her flaming fists out, trying to burn Kari. Kari screamed and jumped off of her. She scrambled backwards, standing up and looking at Mimi fearfully.  
  
There was the sound of something crashing upstairs. Kari looked up, trying to keep an eye on Mimi but listening to what was going on above and trying to see as well. "What's going on up there?" she wondered aloud.  
  
Mimi only stood as straight as an arrow. She looked up as well, her face softening into a kind of wistful look. "Mimi?" Kari whispered.  
  
Mimi looked at her, a torn expression in her face. She looked - almost afraid. "Mimi!" Kari whispered again, taking a few steps toward. But Mimi could only turn and flee. And Kari followed.  
  
~*~  
  
Sora took the stairs two at a time, hurrying up as fast as she could, holding the newborn Rose tightly in her arms. She had managed to successfully sneak by Matt and Takeru, who were fighting for whatever reason. By the yelling she had heard, she suspected that it had something to do with what had happened with Matt in the chamber...  
  
She thought about it again... It seemed to be for the millionth time. It was completely crazy, and she felt so sorry for poor Matt Ishida.  
  
He had said that he loved her; she wasn't quite sure how to interpret it. Sure, there was the obvious answer... He loved her... But it seemed that he was too panicked, that the whole situation was too spur of the moment. Besides that... He seemed almost upset when he realized what he was doing. He obviously wasn't being rational... And she knew that he was the jealousy that he had toward the special bond that she and Tai had was seeping through, and he thought that this was his chance to grab some happiness for himself. _It's not me,_ she told herself. _It's just what his mind thinks he wants. He just wants a girl. Any girl. Not me in particular._ She reached the final, central room of the fortress, with the high, gloomy ceilings, the strange, dark tapestries, and the cold atmosphere... and she saw someone... a woman... hurrying down the steps, and a feminine voice shouting after them...  
  
"M-Mimi..." she stuttered, hardly believing her luck. This is what she had snuck away for in the first place, to exact her vengeance for the death of her soulmate. She kissed her baby's head tenderly. "This is for the father you'll never know," she said softly, walking toward the center of the room.  
  
~*~  
  
The warmth... it had almost reached her heart that time... and she knew that he was near... it had to be him in the higher levels of the castle... and it frightened her and made her feel wonderful all at the same time. She felt a surge of power, and yet, something was being taken from her as well... But the power being taken from her was cold, black power, something she wasn't sure she wanted... and the warmth was... beautiful, like white hot fire coursing through her veins, crippling her with it's pleasure...  
  
And the girl was chasing her... a name flashed across her memory as the image imprinted her mind... but she just couldn't remember... Too hard to remember... Too many things to remember...  
  
But now she was away... Although the young girl was still following her, she could feel the cold returning to her, hardening her, making her rigid and strong with an unholy alliance with the evil blackness.  
  
She reached the center of her castle, at long last, and she could see a woman standing in the center of the huge room, staring her down.  
  
"So," the auburn-haired beauty said menacingly. "You finally decided to show your face, huh Mimi?"  
  
~*~  
  
Izzy stood in the center of the room, the dust and splinters of wood from the shattered door having settled all along the floor. His eyes skated across the unfamiliar surroundings, seeing the same creepy tapestries and assorted decorations that he had seen all over the rest of the fortress.  
  
"What is this place?" He wondered aloud, his eyes still scanning the room. It couldn't be a bedroom... There was no bed... Only shelves of books and a large, red, velvety chair positioned in the middle of the back wall. ... "This must be some sort of a throne room," he speculated to himself.  
  
There was a large book sitting on the floor next to the throne-looking chair. His curiosity overtaking him, he walked over to the book and picked it up.  
  
" 'The weakest one...' " he read softly to himself. He looked at the dates on the pages... They had been taken from 6 years ago... right after they had defeated the Dark Masters. "The weakest one?" he repeated. "What could she be talking about?"  
  
He poured himself even deeper into the book, turning pages quickly, but reading the words, slowly realizing that this was not the work of Mimi after all.... "Oh my God..." he whispered. " 'Warp her into something even more hideously stupid and servile than what she truly is...' ??? Oh my _God_! 'With this weak-minded child made to do my bidding, there is no way that the remaining six can escape their true destiny and the reign of my power.' "  
  
" 'I found the simpering wench sitting by a grave marker, whining in typical fashion to some dead creature that she claimed was smarter than she. It's not difficult to believe. This human... although I don't believe that humans are the smartest creatures ever, this example of humanity is proving to me that the past adversaries of the Digidestined were nothing but fools to let themselves be defeated if destiny has chosen _her_ to be a member of the Chosen Children...' "  
  
Izzy slammed the book shut. He took deep, rapid breaths. "Mimi..." he whispered. "My theory was correct after all..." 


	9. An End and a Beginning

"Mistakes"

**Mistakes**  
_by Laura Kamida_  
**Rated PG-13 for Violence and Language**  


**Chapter 9 - An End and a Beginning**   
  
"_MIMI_! _STOP_!"  
  
Kari charged down the steps full speed in pursuit of Mimi. It seemed that after the strange encounter they had just shared, Mimi had taken off like a lightning bolt, too fast for Kari to catch up.  
  
Kari felt her chest tighten up, and her mind raced. She couldn't stop herself from running, but her breath was getting shorter and shorter, as her lungs were becoming more and more constricted. Black splotches were overpowering her vision, but she saw a powerful white glow overtaking both, and she pitched forward, her eyelids fluttering shut.  
  
As her limp body rolled down the final stairs into the large central room of the fortress, it glowed with a muted white light, almost as an afterthought, and her lips mouthed one last word.  
  
~*~  
  
"Kari!?" Sora gasped, ready to rush over to the younger girl. However, she looked to her adversary, Mimi, who looked at her with cold hazel eyes narrowed dangerously and a maniacal grin plastered on her face. It was a frightening sight, especially since she had seemed to morph since they had crossed paths only a short time ago. She carried herself completely differently; her newfound lank, angular features that made her look helpless and almost anorexic before were now being used to make her look like a fierce cat on the prowl.  
  
Mimi's hair, which had never had a strand out of place before, was now laying askew all over her face and shoulders, as if she didn't care at all about it anymore. Her haphazardness was unsettling, and the hungry, waiting stare that she gave Sora as she started to walk towards Kari made her shudder.  
  
"I wouldn't turn my back if I were you..." Mimi said with a savage smirk as she eyed the newborn Sora held.  
  
Sora, for the first time, felt genuinely afraid of Mimi, and it showed in her face, her tired eyes widening and her arms clutching Rose tighter. She looked back to Kari for only one second, seeing her mouth one word ever-so-slowly, and the soft whiteness about her that she hadn't even noticed before ceased, making the girl appear dark and lifeless.  
  
Sora didn't even have the chance to gasp before a flash of lightening lit the room, and everything in it, and suddenly it all went black. She screamed involuntarily as she felt Mimi's form slam against her. Then, nothing seemed to move at all. Everything seemed to stand still - Sora could not even feel her own heartbeat anymore. The lightning flashed outside again and Mimi's form was illuminated for a split second... Then senses started to come back.  
  
First - the darkness. Sora, in all the rush, became dimly aware that she was in a state of pitch blackness, and everything else was too. Then, the screams. Her own, those of her child, the triumphant, banshee cries of her enemy. The feeling of hands grasping her shoulders, hitting her, beating her, and there was nothing she could do about it.  
  
Finally, all the torches around the room flickered and roared back to life, and Sora, seeing Mimi on the attack, grasped her composure again, fiercely kicking with both of her feet. Mimi flew backwards about a foot and landed on her feet, unfazed by the attack.  
  
Sora stood up, feeling something rushing through her blood, something she could not identify at the moment but it was something she had lost once, and now found again. It made her strong, it made her proud, and it made her courageous.  
  
She gritted her teeth to the other woman.   
  
"Hit me with your best shot," she growled defiantly.  
  
~*~  
  
Izzy flew down the steps, not stopping, his pulse thumping so loudly he was sure it was echoing off the walls... but he couldn't hear it. He could hear nothing but the sound of his sneakers hitting the stone floor as he moved like the wind... on a mission.  
  
"MIMI!" he screamed. "_MIMI_!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Finally, he skidded to a stop at the end of the stairwell, as he saw the two women standing, facing off, their forms alike, and yet, so different. Sora, standing righteously, holding her child, glaring at Mimi as if to banish the evil from her very sight; Mimi, standing, so smug and sure of herself, staring coldly at Sora.  
  
He saw Matt and Takeru emerge from the downward staircase, and Joe, leading a small army of the   
  
Destined Digimon, come forward from a different set of ascending steps. They each looked at each other, then to Izzy, then to the women, and finally, Takeru saw what none of them had seen yet...  
  
"_KARI_!" he screamed, and ran forward. Not caring about the evil in front of him, he raced by Mimi and kneeled at the side of his young companion. He lifted her, and cradled her gently in his arms. "Oh, please... no... Kari..."  
  
As her eyes gently fluttered open, Takeru held her fiercely, rocking her back and forth as much to comfort himself as to comfort her. "Oh, _Kari_..." he whispered as she weakly wrapped her arms around him.  
  
Izzy's attention reverted back to the women.  
  
"Keep away from my child," Sora hissed at Mimi, clasping Rose tightly against her.  
  
"Maybe I'll kill _that_ one too," Mimi said with an evil cackle. Sora's mouth fell open, and she stared, gaping at Mimi. "... H-how _could_ you...." ... She let out a blood-curdling scream. "I should have listened to Tai!" she cried. "He knew all along it was you, Mimi, but I refused to believe him because I _thought_ you were my friend!"  
  
Mimi's lips curled up in a satisfied grin. "Yes... it was all I needed to work my spell on all of you. Distraction. It was brilliant, my first work as the Digimistress of Evil... kill the child of the 'mother' ... and destroy her faith in herself. The spell I cast to make it born prematurely was... divine inspiration."  
  
"_You bitch_! How could you do this to me!?"  
  
"It is destiny."  
  
"I thought we were _friends_!!!" Her face contorted in a mix of boundless anger, sadness, and betrayal.  
  
"This is bigger than friendship."  
  
Finally, it was the breaking point. "...... _I'll KILL YOU_!" Sora screamed, charging forward.  
  
"Don't worry, Sora. I'll do it."  
  
Izzy didn't have the chance to think about it before he could hear Sora's scream of jubilation.  
  
"_TAI_!" she shrieked, running toward the door that Tai had just thrown open and falling into his arms. Izzy was almost envious of her euphoric sobs as the tall brunette man held his "wife" and new daughter close to him as Sora cried unabashedly.  
  
"Wha...?" Kari said, dazedly. "T-Tai!?"  
  
"Yes," Takeru said softly. "It's him..." Takeru's grin stretched from ear to ear as he hugged Kari tightly once and then let her go again. She stood up, and wobbling, started to walk over to Tai.  
  
"Thank you, Kari," Tai said, breaking away from Sora and hugging his little sister tightly. You did it.... I would have been dead if it wasn't for you and that spell of yours."  
  
"Anytime, Tai... and by that I mean don't you ever die again or I will beat you."  
  
Tai smiled a little and kissed Kari's forehead.  
  
"Sorry to break up this little family moment," Mimi said sarcastically, "but I killed you once, and I can do it again. Even more easily this time."  
  
Tai narrowed his eyes. "Just try it, Mimi... You've taken all the shame out of hitting a woman."  
  
With that, Tai leapt for Mimi. "NO!" Izzy screamed, but it was too late. Tai ploughed right into her and they both went sprawling to the ground, where Tai lifted his arm, and, making a fist with his hand, was about to bring a blow that would crush Mimi's head between his hand and the ground.  
  
"Wait..." Izzy whispered, but he couldn't move, watching Tai and Mimi fight. Mimi, however, extended her arms to prepare for her signature Blood Rage attack, and her hands, engulfed with fire, reached out and pushed Tai away. Tai's yell came out as a slow, almost inhuman roar of pain as Izzy's mind worked half as fast as it should have.  
  
He had to save Tai. And there was only one way to do it. And he could save Mimi too. He looked in his hand. He wasn't sure when he had done it, but he had drawn out the knife that Tai had given him.  
  
With a battle cry, Izzy ran and knocked Tai out of the way of a fireball that Mimi shot from her hand. He landed on top of Mimi, looking at her carefully for a second as her eyes studied him, her face contorting in confusion.  
  
_You can do it.._. his mind told him, and he lifted the knife high above his head and plunged it into Mimi's chest. He closed his eyes as he felt the blade go through her skin with a sickening gurgle of blood. He did not open them even as he felt her hands desperately clawing at his, trying to remove the weapon from her body.  
  
Finally, he pulled it out and thrust it aside, still looking at her. "Ugh!" she breathed, forcing out the breath as her face took on a look of shock, her hazel eyes fluttering and finally closing, and her face looking demure once again.  
  
Izzy smiled at her, and touched her cheek gently. Mimi groaned softly, holding her hands over her wound, her eyes blinking open and closed. "Wake up, Mimi," he said quietly. She opened her eyes wide, only to greet him with a look of cold contempt.  
  
Izzy gasped. "Impossible!" ... She was still under the evil control! "Mimi... you can't leave me now... I have to right this..." He had not made it right, and she was going to die before he could make her herself again. "Don't leave me..." he repeated, only to get a scowl in return.  
  
He held her tightly. ".... I love you..." he whispered, his tears flowing freely. Thinking this was his last chance to express his feelings, he allowed himself one kiss on her cheek, a tear from his face tracing its way down to his mouth and moistening his lips against her skin.  
  
Her body tensed up, and Izzy pulled away to look at her. She opened her eyes wide and looked at him, the warmth and caring that he had grown to love about her returning slowly. "Me... I... it.... broke the spell... My.... _love_?"  
  
"Izzy... you're alive...? .... You - you saved me... Thank you," she whispered.  
  
Izzy's face slowly turned to a smile, and then into a face of pure delight. "_PRODIGIOUS_!" he screamed. But his celebration stopped as she coughed up a mix of blood and saliva. "W-what? ..." his face went pale. "Oh... _oh no_....."  
  
Another...  
  
Mistake.  
  
"I don't think I'm going to make it home..." she whispered to him.  
  
"Mimi..." he replied. "I'm -- I'm so sorry..."  
  
"No," she whispered gently. "Don't be sorry, Izzy. You did what your instincts told you to do to save everyone... and me too. Thank you..." She drifted off, her breathing shallow and slow, her heartbeat slowing down.  
  
"No!" Izzy demanded. His voice softened and his eyes filled with tears. "No, Mimi," he whimpered. "Please... no..."  
  
Her eyes took on a blank glaze, and Izzy picked up her lifeless body and held it close. "Mimi... I'm sorry." He couldn't stop his tears from flowing. He cried for her, his first love, his true friend, his... victim. Sorry wasn't enough. He couldn't find a way to say that he didn't mean for this to happen, that he would give his life gladly just for her, that her laying here, her face empty, her body limp and unmoving, her very being drained out of her, by him, made his heart feel like a heavy stone that someone had burdened him with. So all he could do was hold her and weep.  
  
"_I -- I don't know what to feel..._" he whispered.  
  
The Crest of Knowledge suddenly began to glow. Izzy gently put Mimi's body back down on the floor and held up his Crest so he could see it. The light bursting from it blinded him, and he shielded his eyes. He took it from around his neck and it seemed to float on its own. It fell right against Mimi's chest and started to bond together with something else. Her Crest.  
  
The Crests glowed with brighter light than anyone had ever seen before. It was real, yet it was unbelievable. It was calm, and yet fierce, it was cold and hot and brought forth every sensation. And this magic that had been created between Izzy and Mimi, this magic that love had created, the magic within their hearts and souls forever entwined healed her wound.  
  
"It's a miracle..." Sora whispered, as she and Tai made their way to each other and held each other tightly, Rose in between them. They smiled at each other, and kissed gently.  
  
A little farther off, Matt stared at them. _It's just like I imagined... The light... The three of them..._ ... But he was not sad anymore. The light and hope had bound together the fragmented pieces of his heart and he could see a light at the end of the tunnel. _There is something out there for me... Something wonderful..._  
  
Joe stared into the light. This was love. This was the real thing. Did he have the right to tamper with this? Did he have the right to fight for Mimi when Izzy loved her this much and she loved him back? No... What he and Mimi had was a friendship that went down the wrong path... that had developed when they desired someone to call their own... That wasn't love... Not really.  
  
Suddenly there was a crack of thunder. They gasped, and suddenly there was a tall, dark, almost humanoid figure cloaked in a cape of darkness standing before them.  
  
Mimi let out a shriek. "_No_!"  
  
"That's him..." Izzy growled. It was he that had put Mimi into the life of servitude for all these years. "It's OK, Mimi... He can't control you anymore."  
  
"I never even knew his name..." Mimi whispered.  
  
"_I AM YOUR MASTER_!" the Digimon roared. "_NEVER FORGET THAT_!"  
  
"It is too late..." a smaller Digimon said, stepping out of the shadow of its master. It walked with a limp, as if being under years of abuse. "You have given her your energy, and for what? You didn't watch her and now she has fallen into the hands of the one she loves. And you've lost her forever."  
  
"_Serimon_!" the taller Digimon yelled in rage. He swept one hand and backhanded the smaller Digimon. It went flying into a wall and slowly slid down, hitting the floor, and then bursting and dissolving into billions of pieces of data. "That is what I do when my servants disobey me," he said threateningly.  
  
"Well," Mimi said bravely, "I'm not your servant!"  
  
The Destined Digimon started to Digivolve, and leap forward at the enemy. Although he was weakened from giving his strength to Mimi, he fought them all off with ease. Even the Mega level Digimon were thrown down effortlessly by the adversary.  
  
Wargreymon fell to his knees, and slowly morphed back into Koromon, who sat on the ground, heavily breathing, unable to even move. The huge Digimon took the opportunity and lifted his leg high, ready to bring it crashing down for the killing blow.  
  
Luckily Tai ran to Koromon with the speed of a bullet, diving and rolling out of the way of the attack just in time. He kneeled, holding the In-training tightly in his arms. "I thought I was a goner," Koromon said innocently. Tai only hugged him tighter.  
  
The last Digimon to stay in a higher level was Lillymon. She ducked and wove through the Digimon's attacks with ease, as if she had been prepared for this battle already.  
  
"Lillymon?" Mimi called.  
  
"This isn't the first time we've battled, Mimi..." Lillymon admitted ashamedly. "I never realized it was him controlling you, but I knew he was evil. I... I just wish I had figured it out sooner..."  
  
"His name is Psymon," Izzy said. "...and he used a psychic hold on you to keep you his slave." Mimi looked at him. "I found a book in a chamber in the upstairs room of the fortress... It had everything in there... From the moment he found you, sitting at my grave... until he drained his power to make you strong enough to defeat us."  
  
"_FLOWER CANNON_!" "He knew that if you and I were near each other, our energies would even out. He thought if he gave you power, that the evil energy he gave to you would make me evil, make me his slave as well. But it didn't work out that way, did it? Every time you were near me, I would feel something - but you did too. And it overpowered his hold."  
  
Psymon knocked the beam of energy away with little worry. "_MIND GAMES_!" he roared, sending forth a bright blue beam that was thick enough to capture Lillymon within it. She froze, pain evident on her face, as Psymon looked at her with a cruel look of superiority in his eyes. He let her fall, her unconscious body hitting the stone floor with a sickening thud.  
  
"_Lillymon_!" Mimi cried, running to her fallen friend. The fairy slowly changed back into the little plant, Tanemon. Mimi picked up the Digimon.  
  
"And as easily as that - you will be my slave again, you poor excuse for a human." Psymon extended his arms, collecting cerulean psychic energy in his hand.  
  
"_No_!" Mimi screamed defiantly, her Crest glowing a bright green on her chest, contrasting against the red she wore. She straightened her own arms, locking her elbows. "_BLOOD RAGE_!" she yelled, her hands glowing red and then bursting into flames.  
  
"No, _no, NO_!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Despite Psymon's pleas, Mimi charged forward, attacking the evil Digimon with the attack that he had given her. She leaped, ploughing into him and shoving him against the wall.  
  
As he exploded into data bits, Mimi's eyes started to flow freely with tears. When he was gone, she slumped against the wall, and then onto the floor. Izzy started to run to her, but stopped dead in his tracks.  
  
Joe was already beside her, and he held her, his eyes holding a look of concern for her. He hugged her tightly for the first time in so long, and his own eyes started to swell with tears. Izzy looked around - all of his friends had tears in their eyes, even Tai.  
  
Mimi wrapped her arms around Joe, first burying her face in his neck, and then resting her chin on his shoulder. She looked to Izzy, closing her eyes for a moment.  
  
When she opened them again, he could see her lips mouth the words "Thank you..."  
  
He could only muster a nod.  
  
~*~  
  
"I finally figured out why I was the only one to make it home," Izzy told them. "The way home is not through some portal, some door, not this time. It has to come from your soul. It has to come from the qualities which make us unique in the first place. Tai... courage. Sora... love. Kari... light. Takeru... hope. Matt... friendship. Joe... reliability. Mimi... sincerity. And I have to show knowledge. You have to find it within yourself. You have to get that quality within you. Perfectly balanced. And it will lead you home. Somehow... before I went through that portal, when my mind was spinning I knew that something wasn't right with it... I knew that some component from the heart was missing from that program..." But no one was really listening anymore.  
  
_How can I show courage when I am afraid to show my true feelings...? How can I show love when I wanted to kill Mimi, one of my closest friends...? How can I show light when I don't know how to use it...? How can I show hope when I had given up on myself in Mimi's dungeon...? How can I show friendship when I betrayed one friend who I thought was dead and violated another's vulnerability...? How can I show reliability when I accused a friend that depended on my support...? How can I show sincerity when my life for the past years has been a lie...? I can show knowledge... even if I don't know that much about life, or love, yet._ Izzy's chest started to shine with a purple glow, and he closed his eyes, a satisfaction evident on his face. Mimi looked at him, and then all the other Digidestined did as well. Then Takeru's chest burst with gold light, and soon after Kari's glowed with pink light. In turn, all the other Digidestined glowed with their respective light, and finally, as Mimi's Crest exploded in a green shade, the whole group was engulfed in white light, and they disappeared from the Digital World.  
  



	10. Epilogue

"Mistakes"

**Mistakes**  
_by Laura Kamida_  
**Rated PG-13 for Violence and Language**  
  


**Epilogue**   
  
"See ya round, man..." Tai said, taking his friend's hand and shaking it thoroughly, grinning to hide the pain he was feeling inside. It seemed that they had all been together for so long, and now the Digidestined were going their separate ways (with obvious exceptions).  
  
Tai cleared his throat, trying to buy himself a little time before the other man walked away. He felt ridiculous asking a favor of this man: a man who didn't like him, resented him, for what reason he wasn't sure.  
  
The man before him, his friend, his ally, turned to leave... Maybe forever.  
  
"Wait!" Tai called. No turning back now.  
  
"Yeah?" he said quietly, turning back toward him. Tai felt his eyes start to sting as he noticed a tear collecting in the taller man's eye.  
  
"I - I know that we haven't always been on the greatest terms..." he stammered. "But you're my best friend and I wanted to ask you if you would do something for me..." he paused.  
  
Finally, after a long silence he asked: "Matt.... will you be my best man?"  
  
~*~  
  
Mimi led Izzy to a bench in the park. She gestured for him to sit down, and he did, looking up at her expectantly. She sat down at one end of the bench, crossing her legs and looking into Izzy's eyes, one golden-brown strand of hair landing gracefully in her face.  
  
"I came here.... I brought you here.... To say goodbye."   
  
Izzy's eyes widened. "_You're leaving_?" He loved her... She loved him... She couldn't leave now that they were finally reunited, could she!?  
  
"Joe and I are going to travel the world... Soak up some of the culture and everything that we missed in the Digiworld." She looked at him, remorse evident in her deep brown eyes. "There's nothing for me here anymore, Izzy..."  
  
_There's me..._ he desperately wanted to whisper to her. _THERE'S ME!_ But there were some things even love could not accomplish: and an eighteen year old woman could never feel anything more than motherly love for an eleven year old boy.  
  
She reached out, and gently touched his hair. He winced. He wished with all his heart she wouldn't do that to him. He had his heart out on his sleeve before her, breaking with every thought of her, and her gentle touch made him feel as if a sledge hammer hit it.  
  
"I'm sorry..." she said softly, almost in a whimper, as her eyes studied Izzy's face. "You don't deserve this... none of this. You saved me.... Your love saved me...." she drifted off, every word so sweet that he wished for the millionth time he hadn't ruined everything. She had loved him. He had ruined it.  
  
"Goodbye," he said simply, turning away from her.  
  
"Come on, Izzy," she said, trying to turn him around by putting her hand on his shoulder and pulling. He cringed, and she recoiled. "Come on," she repeated, more softly. "You don't have to put on a tough guy act for me."  
  
He smiled. "It's fine, really... But you're very perceptive. I guess that's why we're friends."  
  
"It's okay to cry, you know..."  
  
He looked down at the ground, thinking for a moment. Slowly his eyes returned to hers.  
  
"Don't worry. ... I will."  
  
~*~  
  
Matt threw back another glass of punch (_The love of my life is getting married and I can't even get drunk..._ he thought angrily) and combed his fingers through his hair. His eyes skimmed around the room, passing quickly over Sora and Tai dancing happily in the middle of the ballroom. Suddenly, he saw a dark shape moving through his peripheral vision and looked to his left.  
  
It was a girl, she looked around 18 or 19, dressed in a bridesmaid dress, plum, slender, with spaghetti straps. Part of her shoulder-length brown hair was put up, part was down, and it was intermixed with small white flowers. How had he not noticed her during the ceremony!? She was stunning.  
  
She must have noticed him looking at her, because she walked over, an intruiged look in her big brown eyes. He was reminded of Sora when he looked at her. She smiled warmly, which clenched the resemblance. She was... simply adorable.  
  
She picked up a glass of punch and took a sip, looking up at him. She was about a foot shorter than him, so she had to tilt her chin up, tossing her head gently, and her hair fell back behind her shoulders. Every move she made he noticed with detail, his eyes soaking up every aspect of her beauty.  
  
"Hello," he said nervously. He had never picked up a woman in his life, and he wasn't quite sure how to do it.  
  
"Hi," she said sweetly. Matt's nerves eased.  
  
"You're one of Sora's bridesmaids, right?"  
  
"Uh huh," she replied. "You were Tai's best man, weren't you?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
There was a long pause. "My name's Cait," she finally said.  
  
"Oh, nice to meet you. My name's Matt Ishida. Is there a last name to go with that?"  
  
"Oh," she chuckled, "I guess I forgot. I'm Cait Takenouchi. I'm Sora's older -- um... I guess I'm still older...? ...Cousin."  
  
Matt laughed. "You sure do look like her," he mused.  
  
There was a short silence... and a song started to play.  
  
_Maybe it's intuition  
But some things you just don't question  
Like in your eyes  
I see my future in an instant  
And there it goes  
I think I found my best friend...  
  
I know that it might sound more than a little crazy  
But I believe...  
  
I knew I loved you before I met you,  
I think I dreamed you into life,  
I knew I loved you before I met you,  
I have been waiting all my life...  
  
_ He looked over at Cait Takenouchi, who was staring off at the new Mr. and Mrs. Kamiya, and she had an evident look in her eyes, a far off gaze that said _I want that_...  
  
".... I know we just met.... but you wanna get outta here?" he said quietly.  
  
She turned to him and though her mouth remained a coy biting of the lip, her eyes smiled for her. "Sure... I'd love to."  
  
They started to leave the reception hall, and he took one last look back at Sora. She removed her hand from Tai's back for a moment to make a "V" sign at him as she smiled, her chin resting daintily on his shoulder.  
  
He turned to Cait again. "...I think this is the start of something very good."  
  
~*~  
  
Takeru looked at the maid of honor in his arms, and twirled her around gently. Her soft, winning smile merited a little kiss from the blonde boy. As he pulled away, his new girlfriend's soft grin melted his heart. Kari leaned forward again, kissing him more passionately this time.  
  
"Takeru..." she said softly, caressing his face. "You're my hero..."  
  
He pulled her close, fiercely embracing her. "You can call me TK," he whispered into her ear.  
  
~*~  
  
Izzy watched as Joe and Mimi danced, a her soft plum bridesmaid dress swirling elegantly around her legs, and her face smiling with joy. He looked down at himself, and pulled out of his pocket what he had been keeping secret, what he had been thinking about a lot.  
  
He waved to Tai, who waved back, grinning, and Sora waved as well. He noted that Takeru and Kari were getting along very well, and Matt had just left with one of Sora's bridesmaids.  
  
"Well..." he said to himself softly. "I guess it's now or never..."  
  
He walked just outside the door and clutched that had been in his pocket. As the little turquoise digivice trembled with the power within, he felt something surging within him.  
  
"There's always the future..." he said softly, as a brilliant white light engulfed the street around him.  
  



End file.
